“Utterly Failed”: Judge Shuts Down Giuliani’s Latest Desperate Lawsuit

Rudy Giuliani just struck out again in court.

The former attorney for Donald Trump, ex-mayor of New York City, and conservative gadfly tried to sue President Joe Biden in October last year for defamation for calling him a “Russian pawn” in a 2020 presidential debate against Trump. On Monday morning, a judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying Giuliani “utterly failed” to carry his burden.

At the time, Giuliani claimed that he lost clients and podcast listeners after Biden said in the 2020 debate to Trump, “Buddy, Rudy Giuliani, he is being used as a Russian pawn, he is being fed information that is Russian that is not true.”

“Four, five former heads of the CIA say that what [Trump] is saying” about the laptop “is a bunch of garbage,” Biden said later in the debate, referring to Giuliani’s purported proof that Hunter Biden was involved in corrupt business dealings in Ukraine. “Nobody believes it except … his good friend Rudy Giuliani.”

Giuliani filed the lawsuit in New Hampshire to take advantage of the state’s defamation laws, and that was why the case was dismissed without prejudice, Judge Paul J. Barbadoro wrote. This means that the former New York mayor can refile the lawsuit in a different court.

But where would he get the money for another frivolous lawsuit? Giuliani was successfully sued for defamation himself by two Georgia election workers last year after he accused them of manipulating ballots, and owes them $148 million as result. He then unsuccessfully filed for bankruptcy, leading to the poll workers suing him again to seize control of his assets, including his real estate holdings.

Giuliani’s financial difficulties are almost too massive to be believed. He lost his accountant over his mismanaged debts, tried and failed to persuade Trump to help settle his seven-figure legal fees (Trump refused), had his WABC radio show canceled for spewing 2020 election lies, and started his own coffee brand, “Rudy Coffee,” in an effort to funnel in some extra cash.

The man simply can’t stop spending money he doesn’t have. His creditors in May called out the disbarred attorney for his “extravagant lifestyle” and “gross mismanagement,” saying Giulani had “accomplished almost nothing” in his bankruptcy case. He still owes money to his former attorneys, who say he only paid them $214,000 of nearly $1.6 million in legal expenses.

Giuliani also has pending criminal cases against him in Georgia and Arizona for election interference and is facing a pending sexual harassment lawsuit from one of his former assistants. Once dubbed “America’s mayor” after the September 11 attacks, Giuliani has ruined his reputation and can’t stop embarrassing himself.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene escalated a conspiracy theory about the presidential debate so blatantly baseless that even she couldn’t back it up.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s disastrous debate performance last week, during which he falsely claimed that immigrants were eating their neighbors’ pets, Republicans have scrambled to create a narrative that might explain away their candidate’s flailing.

Conservatives have begun claiming that there was a so-called “whistleblower” at ABC News who could prove that Kamala Harris had received the questions in advance and had an agreement with the moderators that she would not be fact-checked. Such claims appeared to originate from a few far-right accounts, including someone who participated in the January 6 riot, with absolutely no evidence to support them.

The MAGA Republican representative from Georgia took the outlandish claims a step further Sunday.

“The ABC whistleblower who claimed Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of the debate has died in a car crash according to news reports,” Greene wrote in a post on X.

Four hours later, Greene tried to walk back her claim, without retracting the actual misinformation.

“This story appears to be false, and I’m glad to hear it,” Greene wrote, referring to reports that the so-called “whistleblower” had died. “We need a serious investigation into the whistleblower’s report that Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of time from ABC!”

Greene did not delete her original post, but a lengthy community note appeared beneath it, which clarified that the unverified story had come from a random WordPress blog.

J.D. Vance would apparently rather protect Donald Trump’s decision to pal around with self-described “proud Islamophobe” and 9/11 conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer than stand up for his own wife.

Trump has been seen with Loomer several times over the last couple of weeks, with the pair getting eyebrow-raisingly close (Trump’s hand has been spotted in the small of Loomer’s back) while Melania Trump has largely remained out of the limelight. Loomer attended a 9/11 memorial service with Trump and also accompanied him to the presidential debate.

In an interview Sunday with NBC News, Vance was asked directly about his and his wife Usha Vance’s opinions on some of Loomer’s overt racism, including her claim that Vice President Kamala Harris’s ascendency to the Oval Office would make the White House “smell like curry.” But Vance wouldn’t take a stand against the alt-right ally.

“Senator, you are married to an Indian American woman. What was your reaction to hearing those comments specifically?” asked Meet the Press’s Kristen Welker.

Vance refused to immediately speak on the topic, sidestepping instead to briefly elaborate on his conspiracy that Haitian migrants are eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio.

“You asked about Laura Loomer. Look, Laura Loomer is not affiliated with the Trump campaign. She said something about curry in the White House that I first read about this morning because I knew you would ask me about it,” Vance said. “Look, Kristen, I make a mean chicken curry. I don’t think it’s insulting for anyone to talk about their dietary preferences or what they want to do in the White House.

“Do I agree with what Laura Loomer said about Kamala Harris? No, I don’t,” Vance continued. “I also don’t think that this is actually an issue of national import. Is Laura Loomer running for president? No. Kamala Harris is running for president, and whether you’re eating curry at your dinner table or fried chicken, things have gotten more expensive thanks to her policies.”

It’s worth noting that not only is Vance’s response pathetic, but he also manages to incorporate racist stereotypes about the food eaten by both of Harris’s cultures: Indian people and Black people.

But even when given a second chance to disavow Loomer’s comments, Vance couldn’t give it up. Instead, the vice presidential pick blamed the drama on chronically online behavior before continuing to attack Harris’s economic policies and jabbing fingers at the media for covering the far-right conspiracy theorist’s influence on the Republican presidential nominee.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Lara Trump, the Republican National Committee co-chair and daughter-in-law of Donald Trump, defended the Trump campaign’s lies about Haitian immigrants abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

Given that the rumors amplified last week by the Trump-Vance campaign have been repeatedly discredited by Springfield police and local government officials, Fox News’s Howard Kurtz asked, “Do you now accept, based on what local officials say, that this is untrue?”

“It’s not up to me to decide that,” Lara Trump replied. “This information came directly from the people of Springfield. No one at our campaign—Donald Trump didn’t make this up himself. You heard from people at a city council meeting, I believe, that they were very concerned about what’s going on,” she continued, referring back to rumors roundly debunked by those on the ground in Springfield.

“I think it’s a shame that people are trying to discredit the impact that the illegal immigration in this country has had on towns like Springfield, Ohio,” she added—a sentiment that runs against remarks made by Ohio’s Trump-supporting Republican Governor, Mike DeWine, that same day. DeWine called the smears against the Haitian Springfield residents “garbage,” adding, “They’re here legally, and they want to work, and they are, in fact, working.”

Lara Trump was not the only member of Team Trump asked to answer for the campaign’s lies this weekend. J.D. Vance told CNN’s Dana Bash, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

The demonization of the Haitian residents in Springfield has given rise to threats against government offices, public schools, and hospitals.

Donald Trump’s angry post attacking Taylor Swift is drawing backlash from his own supporters.

On Sunday, in an all-caps post, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” And the convicted felon’s MAGA faithful were immediately concerned.

Even on Truth Social, a platform almost exclusively made up of Trump fans, the comments were negative, with supporters posting, “Why are you doing this” and “This one isn’t going to help much.” Some of them speculated that his account was hacked, and others advised him not to take on the pop star’s numerous and vocal fanbase.

Only three months ago, Trump made some creepy comments praising Swift, saying, “I hear she’s very talented. I think she’s very beautiful, actually—unusually beautiful.”

Last week, he had a somewhat more muted, although weird, response after the pop star endorsed Harris after Tuesday’s presidential debate, telling Fox News the next morning that he preferred Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, alluding to Swift’s partner, Travis Kelce. (Brittany Mahomes has been perceived to be pro-Trump, while her husband has said he wasn’t endorsing any presidential candidate.)

“She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it at the, uh, in the marketplace,” Trump said of Swift at the time. Does Trump think his post Sunday will hurt her and maybe even draw away her Republican fans? If so, he’d be deluded, and it might even backfire on him. The A.I. images his fans created to make him friendly to Swift fans didn’t work, with Trump even seeing a need to distance himself from them.

Swift’s popularity has driven the right wing mad, with many of them unable to comprehend her popularity. Trump’s post isn’t likely to help him or his campaign, and Swift will let the haters hate, hate, hate and shake it off.