‘Drunk’ lawyer told Trump to claim win on election night
DONALD Trump falsely claimed he won the 2020 election on the advice of his ‘drunk’ lawyer, the inquiry into the storming of the US Capitol heard.
Former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani was ‘definitely intoxicated’ when he told the 45th president to hold a dramatic, middle of the night press conference, the committee heard.
Within hours of the polls closing on election night, and with millions of votes left to count, Mr Trump took the stage at the White House to assert victory.
He used the speech to claim there was a ‘fraud on the American public’ and kick off his still-held belief the ballot was ‘stolen’ from him.
Former Trump spokesman Jason Miller said: ‘I think the mayor [Giuliani] was definitely intoxicated but I don’t know his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president.’
Jared Kushner, a former White House adviser and married to former first daughter Ivanka, said he told Mr Trump it was ‘not the approach’ he would take, to which the president replied: ‘I have confidence in Rudy.’
Among those who Mr Trump ignored was his attorney general, Bill Barr, who thought the US commander-in-chief had become ‘detached from reality’.
In scorching testimony, Mr Barr said that the claims of fraud were ‘completely bogus and silly and based on complete misinformation’. The hearing focused on Mr Trump’s efforts to convince millions of Americans the election was stolen.
They culminated in his supporters storming the US Capitol on January 6 last year. On Mr Trump’s social media channel Truth Social he denounced the latest hearing as ‘one-sided witch hunt’ and a ‘disgrace to America’.