Rudy Giuliani has been called many things: America’s Mayor. Time Person of the Year. Cousin Marrier. Trump Flunkee. FBI Person of Interest. Public Farter. Ovary-Shriveler (ok, that one’s mine). While he has happily embraced some of these monikers, one characterization that he totally disagrees with (in between hiccups) is that he’s a raging alcoholic )who was reportedly “shit-faced” while pushing Trump to do a coup). Or does he?
As Raw Story reports, Giuliani—who is rumored to be going broke as he’s drowning in legal fees as a result of trying to defend all the lies he told on behalf of former president Donald Trump—sat down with WNBC for an interview just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. But if Rudy thought this was going to be his chance to relive his glory of being a beloved icon of New York City strength, well, he was wrong (and not for the first time).
The entire segment is four minutes of pure magic, with interviewer Melissa Russo’s narration at times seeming like a Ron Howard Arrested Development voiceover. Russo somehow managed to maintain her composure as she walked and sat down with Giuliani as random people shouted things like “I loved your work in Borat 2!” At one point (around the 3:00 mark below), the conversation turns to Rudy’s reputation as a befuddled boozehound, with Russo noting that “Giuliani says he’s as sharp as ever… And he denies claims and published reports and from colleagues that a drinking problem is to blame for the change people perceive in him.” Here’s how that went:
Russo: Have you ever struggled with alcohol?
Rudy: Never at all. Never at all.
Russo: Were you drunk during those interviews when they said you were?
Rudy: Absolutely not. I don’t think I’ve ever done an interview drunk. I have sometimes—I mean, I drink normally. I like scotch. I drink scotch.
Russo: So you do not believe you have a drinking problem?
Rudy: No, I don’t believe it—I know I’m not. I mean, I… [giggles] No, I’m not an alcoholic. I’m a functioning… I’m probably… I probably function more effectively than 90 percent of the population.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done an interview drunk” isn’t exactly a definitive no.
(Via Raw Story)