Rudy Giuliani is 'drunk all the time' and Russia can manipulate him easily, says Trump ex-aide Michael Cohen
Michael Cohen, who once served as attorney to President Donald Trump but is now one of the former’s most vocal critics, feels Rudy Giuliani, the president’s current personal lawyer, could be manipulated by Russia because he is “drunk all the time”. Cohen, who worked with Trump between 2016 and 2018, appeared for an interview on MSNBC’s ‘The Beat’ on Friday, October 16, during which he was asked to reveal his opinion on whether Giuliani was being used as a "tool" by the Kremlin, considered Washington’s arch-rival.
Host Ari Melber asked Cohen: “Do you think Rudy Giuliani is being used as a tool and hack of the Russians, whether or not it passes a legal line and do you think that's wrong?” In his response, the 54-year-old said: “Of course it's wrong and the answer is yes. Rudy is being played by the Russians.”
“He’s 100 per cent susceptible to being used by Russians because… the disinformation, he runs right back to President Trump like a child running to a parent: 'Look what I have. Look what I have',” he added. The question over Giuliani’s susceptibility to Russia’s influence has not surfaced all of a sudden. In December last year, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien expressed before President Trump concerns that the 76-year-old lawyer was being targeted by Moscow’s disinformation campaign working to derail the election campaign of Joe Biden. The Washington Post reported about this on Thursday, October 15.
The intelligence community has also warned in recent months that while Russia was trying to influence the upcoming election in favor of Trump, countries like China and Iran were trying to see a defeat for the incumbent. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was probing whether foreign players were behind the bombshell emails that the New York Post recently reported about, showing Biden’s son, Hunter, tried for business deals in China and Ukraine. It was Giuliani who obtained the purported Biden communications.
Adding to his take over the email issue, Cohen said in the interview: “Let's not forget, I was in Trump's office when Roger Stone contacted Mr Trump at the time to tell him about the emails that were going to be dropped ultimately learning several days later they were the [John] Podesta emails.” He also said that Trump speaks and behaves like a mob boss. He was speaking about the way Trump’s campaign has tried to dig up information on Biden ahead of the high-stakes election. Cohen has made similar claims in his new book 'Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump' which he wrote during his jail term after getting convicted of a range of crimes.
'Rudy's faculties are gone'
The Post cited four former officials to say that the assessment over Giuliani’s vulnerability was based on inputs including intercepted communications that made it evident that the former New York City mayor had been in connection with people tied to the Kremlin’s intelligence. It also said that despite O’Brien’s warning, the president brushed it off. Cohen said while the president is using Giuliani as a soldier, the latter is not a soldier. “Rudy is drunk all the time, which is a big problem and that’s what makes him susceptible because his faculties are gone. He behaves crazy,” he said. When Melber asked him whether Cohen’s take was based on an observation or if he was just passing an opinion, the president’s former legal aide said he has seen the veteran drink to a point where he is a “high school drunk”.
Melber challenges Cohen on this point, asking, "Are you sharing an opinion or are you sharing an observation like you've seen him drink X amount?"
— Susie Bright (@susiebright) October 17, 2020
“I’ve seen him drink to the point like he's a high school drunk," Cohen said, "and it makes him susceptible.”
“And it makes him susceptible. He takes the information that he gets and provides it to the president and simply because Rudy, who used to be considered... a real litigator and he was considered to be America’s Mayor — he’s now really just a joke. And he takes it right back to Trump and Trump listens to it,” Cohen added.