A new book has claimed that an inebriated Rudy Giuliani told aides to “declare victory right now” on election night 2020, even as the results were far from certain.
“Just say we won,” said Mr Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, according to an excerpt of the new book I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year, written by Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.
According to the the book, Mr Giuliani was with Republican campaign manager Bill Stepien, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House senior adviser Stephen Miller when votes were still being counted and Mr Giuliani supposedly posed the idea of simply claiming victory.
“Some people thought Giuliani may have been drinking too much,” the excerpt reads, before Mr Giuliani went through each state asking for an update from the aides.
“‘What’s happening in Michigan?’ he asked.
They said it was too early to tell, votes were still being counted and they couldn’t say.
“Just say we won,” Mr Giuliani told them, according to the book. He reportedly repeated the same about the key swing state of Pennsylvania, which ultimately went for Joe Biden.
In the middle of the night, Mr Trump, standing alongside then first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence, falsely claimed that he had won the election and claimed voter fraud.
“This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election,” Mr Trump said, appearing to act on the alleged suggestion made by Mr Giuliani.
Mr Trump has since launched numerous lawsuits attempting to prove some kind of election fraud – none of which have provided any substantial evidence that fraud took place.
His ongoing false claim that he won the election led to the 6 January storming of the US Capitol, which ultimately claimed five lives. Mr Trump was subsequently impeached for a second time by the House of Representatives – for incitement of insurrection – before being acquitted by the Senate. He is the only US president in history to be impeached twice.
Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States, winning the 2020 election with 81,284,666 votes (306 Electoral College votes) to Donald Trump’s 74,224,319 votes (232 Electoral College).
