Wolff Claims Giuliani Showed Signs of Senility, Was Often 'Buzzed' While Working for Trump - Report

Giuliani is considered one of the most trusted confidants of the former president's inner circle. And while some have argued that Giuliani abused his proximity to Trump, the attorney led the former president's legal challenge against the election results in 2020.

According to Michael Wolff's new book, "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump," Donald Trump's advisers thought Rudy Giuliani was frequently inebriated and felt he was on the verge of senility. And the journalist claims in his new work that while serving in the White House, the former president's 77-year-old personal lawyer had "focus issues, memory problems," and "basic logic failures," the Daily Mail reported, citing the upcoming book.

"Giuliani was, many around Trump believed, always buzzed if not, in the phrase Steve Bannon made famous in the Trump White House, hopelessly 'in the mumble tank,'" Wolff wrote. "Many believed he had the beginnings of senility: focus issues, memory problems, simple logic failures. A vast disorganization of papers and files and tech malfunctions followed in his wake."  

The former mayor of New York City's weight "ballooned" during Trump's presidency, according to the report quoting Wolff.

The writer claimed that insiders within the Trump administration said that Giuliani's "popping eyes and poorly dyed hair made him seem like a pre-television age character, a past-his-time and gone-to-seed former official hanging around the courthouse steps regaling anyone who will listen with tall tales and wild theories of the shameful secrets and gothic underbelly of politics."

The poorly dyed hair reference refers to the famous incident during a speech in Philadelphia in November 2020, when Giuliani was shot with hair color dripping down his face, while reiterating claims that the presidential election that Trump lost had been rigged.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks during a news conference about the 2020 U.S. presidential election results at Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, U.S., November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

© AP Photo / JONATHAN ERNST

Giuliani's life "seemed to be singularly sustained by his being on television," according to Wolff, and he had unrestricted access to Trump by only telling him what he wanted to hear. The book reportedly goes on to say that despite their best efforts, Trump's staff were unable to prevent Giuliani from visiting the White House, particularly after his employer's election loss.

Wolff claimed that Giuliani could see Trump whenever he wanted because he was "willing to tell Trump not only that he could do whatever he wanted to do, but that he could go beyond this" and "offered Trump vastly more power, right, and discretion than even Trump himself thought possible."

According to the report, Trump would attack his lawyer despite his allegiance, accusing him of being drunk and saying things that were not true.

"But Rudy would fight," Wolff wrote. "He could be counted on to fight even when others wouldn't. And, too, he would work for free."

These assertions are echoed by another impending book, in which Trump is said to have enjoyed teasing Giuliani for falling asleep in meetings and referring to him as "pathetic" following TV appearances.

Copies of the book "Fire and Fury" by author Michael Wolff are displayed on a shelf at Book Passage on January 5, 2018 in Corte Madera, California.

© AFP 2023 / JUSTIN SULLIVAN

According to Michael C.Bender's "Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost," also excerpted by the outlet, the attorney "rarely complained" and instead "seemed to crave the attention."

The former president "would needle the former mayor for falling asleep on flights and joke about Giuliani's constant use of his iPad," Bender wrote, adding that Trump would joke "He's looking at cartoons."

"Rudy never wanted to be left out," one of Trump's campaign's aides is reportedly quoted in the book. "If you were ever between Rudy and the president, look out. You were going to get trampled."

According to the book, after the famous Access Hollywood tape was released during the 2016 presidential race, in which Trump is heard making nasty remarks about women, Giuliani reportedly was the only member of his inner circle willing to defend Trump.

Following the appearances, the writer claims that Giuliani traveled to LaGuardia Airport, where Trump was awaiting his flight to St. Louis for his second presidential debate with Hillary Clinton. And although all of Trump's aides "greeted him with huzzahs and high-fives," Trump "barely looked up from his newspaper."

"Rudy, you sucked," Trump said. "You were weak."

And, according to the upcoming book, Giuliani looked like he had lost his breath and been kicked in the groin at the same time.

"What the f*** did you want me to do?" he asked.

Moreover, according to the writer's sources, at one of the 2017 staff meetings "Trump's team started complaining about Giuliani's puzzling television appearances that often veered off-message and created more work for the press shop. Trump barked that at least Giuliani was out there fighting for him. Everyone shut up after that."

And Bender claims that Giuliani, on the other hand, exaggerated his confidence in Trump's friendship. Though they both knew each other for decades by then, Giuliani reportedly publicly spread rumors that the then-future US president was going to name him as Secretary of State. It never ended up happening, and the writer states that was partially due to Giuliani reportedly informed aides that he hadn't gone to the Middle East in over a year, though he did the month before.

A New York appeal court revoked Giuliani's law license last month for making "demonstrably false and misleading statements" made while promoting Donald Trump's election fraud accusations and "threatening the public interest."

More to that, earlier this week, Giuliani was barred from practicing law in Washington, DC.

Giuliani is also embroiled in a plethora of legal issues coming from his time in the Trump administration, particularly his relations with Ukraine.

Between 1983 through 1989, Giuliani was the District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. His career went even higher after the 9/11 terror attacks, when he was praised around the world for his deft handling of the crisis while serving as Mayor of New York City. However, Giuliani's professional life has been beset by scandal since he started working for Trump, culminating in an FBI raid on his Manhattan home in May. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing.