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- Giuliani repeatedly and falsely told Trump that Pence could overturn the election, per a new book.
- Michael Wolff's "Landslide" details the chaotic response to the January 6 insurrection.
- A New York court recently suspended Giuliani's law license for 2 years over his election lies.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Rudy Giuliani repeatedly but falsely assured former President Donald Trump that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the power to overturn the 2020 election in the days leading up to January 6, according to a new book.
A lengthy excerpt of author Michael Wolff's forthcoming book "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency" published Monday in New York Magazine detailed the White House's moment-by-moment reaction to the January 6 insurrection. Wolff is the author of two other books, "Fire & Fury" and "Siege," about the Trump White House.
By January 6, according to Wolff, many core administration officials and White House staffers had left or largely distanced themselves from the action, leaving only a small circle of aides who were still involved in Trump's day-to-day activities and, with the White House counsel's office largely checked out, leaving Giuliani as Trump's main legal confidante.
Giuliani, according to Wolff, "was drinking heavily and in a constant state of excitation, often almost incoherent in his agitation and mania" in the lead-up to the deadly riot, obsessed with the idea that Pence could somehow preclude Congress from affirming President Joe Biden's election victory.
"There is no question, none at all, that the VP can do this. That's a fact. The Constitution gives him the authority not to certify. It goes back to the state legislatures," Giuliani said continuously on the phone to Trump and anyone else who would listen, according to Wolff.
In reality, Congress does not "certify" slates of electoral votes, but counts and affirms the Electoral College votes submitted by states. There is no constitutional or legal avenue for the vice president, who only performs a ceremonial role, to categorically reject slates of electors or "send back" electoral certificates to states for further review, as Trump has repeatedly suggested.
On Thursday, a New York court suspended Giuliani's license to practice law in the state for two years, making him the first attorney to experience professional consequences for perpetuating lies about fraud in the 2020 election.
The court found "uncontroverted evidence" that Giuliani had "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large" in lodging unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud while representing Trump.
Giuliani pushed false and unfounded claims of fraud in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania in both official legislative hearings and in the media, in addition to misrepresenting the nature of the Trump campaign's federal court litigation in Pennsylvania.