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- After a viral video appeared to show Rudy Giuliani experiencing flatulence during a Michigan election hearing on Wednesday, a state lawmaker has chimed in to say the fart was real.
- There were two instances during the hearing in which President Donald Trump’s personal attorney appeared to pass gas.
- Democratic State Rep. Darrin Camilleri said both farts did indeed happen and were not edited into the video.
- Camilleri tweeted Friday about how he was featured in the video clip of the incident shown on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Thursday night.
- “In normal times, using our time and taxpayer dollars to investigate illegitimate claims of election fraud would be wasteful, but in the middle of a pandemic, it’s cowardly and cruel,” Camilleri told Insider.
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The fart heard around the political universe from Rudy Giuliani this week was no deep fake, according to a Michigan lawmaker.
President Donald Trump’s personal attorney went viral overnight Wednesday over a clip in which he appeared to pass gas during an election hearing. Later, a second video seemed to show a different fart.
—Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 3, 2020
State Rep. Darrin Camilleri, a Democrat from Dearborn, Michigan, who represents Brownstown in the legislature, tweeted about the incident Friday morning.
Making a joke about being featured on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for his questioning of Giuliani, Camilleri said the fart was real.
—Darrin Camilleri (@darrincamilleri) December 4, 2020
Camilleri told Insider in an email that beyond the comic relief, the lack of evidence presented at the hearing concerned him.
"From the moment we found out that House Republicans were really going through with the blatantly partisan act of allowing Rudy Giuliani and other members of the Trump legal team to testify before an official committee of the Michigan House of Representatives, this whole thing has seemed surreal," Camilleri said.
He added: "In normal times, using our time and taxpayer dollars to investigate illegitimate claims of election fraud would be wasteful, but in the middle of a pandemic, it's cowardly and cruel."
Giuliani did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.
At one point, Camilleri mocked Giuliani over his infamous press conference at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot in Philadelphia.
"This is not Four Seasons Landscaping - this is the Michigan State Legislature," Camilleri told Giuliani.
At another point, Camilleri brought up reports that Giuliani was seeking a preemptive pardon from Trump, and Giuliani appeared to fart right after asking that the committee chair punish the lawmaker for his comments.
—Trump Went to the Hell (@Alexanderian181) December 3, 2020
While the odds of two farts being edited into a livestream were perhaps remote in the first place, Camilleri's account from across the dais took the air out of any alibi.