Stop dignifying Rudy Giuliani's shell game

Even the Fox News hosts are losing patience here

Written by Eric Kleefeld

Published

President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has launched another wave of media appearances, promising to show evidence of vast corruption by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. But the problem here: He keeps telling people to tune in for his next appearance, during which he will show this proof — only to then ask people to tune in next time, to see it then.

Giuliani ran a shadow foreign policy campaign in Ukraine, working alongside attorneys Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, henchmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and current-Fox contributor John Solomon. The primary intent of the scheme was to smear former Vice President Joe Biden, a front-runner to challenge Trump in the 2020 election.

As Trump's trial has gotten underway and he has been under increased scrutiny, Giuliani has returned to Fox News.

The game now appears to be that if he just keeps saying his lines over and over again, people will start to think he actually does have the goods.

On the January 24 edition of Fox & Friends, in the course of a meandering interview, Giuliani made a series of lurid accusations against Joe and Hunter Biden, even including the idea that they had attempted (through agents, presumably) to murder former Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin — a key figure in the smears against Biden — by poisoning.

Co-host Steve Doocy asked: “Rudy, when are you going to present the evidence? Because you tell a compelling story, people want the proof.”

From the January 24, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends

“Today at noon, I will give an introduction,” Giuliani said, teasing the upcoming release of his new podcast series. “Starting next week, I will present witnesses. I have them all on tape. We’ll reveal them, one at a time.”

But then came the podcast itself, the debut episode of which was posted on YouTube that same day. (It was titled “Since No Crimes Exist, It Must Be Dismissed” — a seeming allusion to the defense team’s arguments from the O.J. Simpson trial.) And in the course of Rudy’s more than a half-hour monologue on the nature of impeachment, as well as the perfidy of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and others investigating the president, his only mention of his direct evidence against the Bidens came toward the end — with a promise to show it soon.

From the January 24, 2020, edition of Rudy Giuliani Common Sense

RUDY GIULIANI (TRUMP'S PERSONAL ATTORNEY): Well, this, of course, is an unfolding story. We will follow it in more detail. I particularly look forward to bringing to you many of the facts that I have discovered, that no one knows yet, that are quite dramatic, and that clearly support every single thing that we've talked about. I found those facts in my role as counsel for President Trump, in order to defend him. And I can think of no more appropriate thing to do than to share them with you. They're somewhat — they're somewhat startling. So don't — get ready for it. But we will do it in a careful way, and we'll do it as we do everything else; we'll do it by applying our powers of reasoning, applying common sense. So I hope to see you very shortly — and God bless America.

Then, on the January 25 edition of Justice with Judge Jeanine, even the pro-Trump acolyte host Jeanine Pirro ended up repeatedly asking, “Can we see the evidence, Rudy? Can we see it? ... You know what, Rudy, I'd love for you to send it to me and I’m going to lay it out.”

From the January 25, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine

“Go look at the OAN,” Giuliani said, referring to his recent appearances on the right-wing news outlet, which were widely panned in other media coverage, “and then watch my podcast — next Tuesday and next Friday, I'm going to have Shokin on and he will directly testify about the bribe, and he will also directly testify that they attempted to kill him. And I have the records from the Austrian hospital that showed they attempted to murder him.”

Despite Giuliani’s continued promise to show documentary evidence, his media campaign seems to be just be a series of more unfulfilled promises. And it’s gone on for so long that even some Fox News hosts — who want to believe him — are begging to actually see what he’s got.