Giuliani Declares “I’m the Same Rudy Giuliani That Took Down the Mafia” Before Facing RICO Charge in Georgia

As you’ve probably heard by now, things are not going swimmingly for one Rudy Giuliani. Already in a load of legal trouble stemming from his attempt to overturn the 2020 election on behalf of Donald Trump, the former mayor of New York City was criminally charged last week by the Fulton County district attorney’s office for his plot to overturn the results of the election in Georgia—and if convicted on just the racketeering count alone, he could go away for 5 to 20 years. On top of that, he’s also facing defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems, Smartmatic, and two election workers, and on top of that, he is in such a bad way financially that he can’t pay his bills, per his attorney. And while Trump has reportedly refused to open his own checkbook to help out a guy who—let’s be honest—destroyed what little reputation he had left to try and steal him a second term, the ex-president has apparently decided to throw Giuliani a small-to-medium-size bone.

That bone has come in the form of a $100,000-per-plate fundraiser at Trump’s Bedminster golf course “in support of” Giuliani, which will take place on September 7. According to the invite, Trump will be present for a “roundtable” with the former mayor, and then he’ll take off before dinner.

It’s not clear why Trump has suddenly decided to sort of step up to the plate to help out his friend/alleged coconspirator, though one possible explanation is that he’s trying to ensure Giuliani doesn’t flip on him, which an attorney who specializes in white-collar crime suggested this week was an outcome Trump was risking by leaving the 18 people also charged in Fulton County high and dry re: legal bills.

On Wednesday, the former mayor flew to Georgia to surrender to authorities and face charges brought by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis. There, he was booked and had his mugshot taken:

And while, as of yesterday evening, Giuliani was reportedly still struggling to find a lawyer necessary to negotiate his surrender, he was apparently feeling pretty good about his situation Wednesday morning, telling reporters, “I’m feeling very, very good about it.”

Then he delivered a long speech that (1) appeared to reference the many stories that have been written over the last several years about how far he’s fallen (2) highlighted the work he did in—checks notes—the 1990s (3) falsely claimed that Trump had been “proven innocent several times,” and (4) repeated Trump’s go-to line about how Americans should be worried that they too could one day be charged for trying to overturn a federal election.