The former presidential attorney, Rudy Giuliani conceded for the first time in an interview with The New York Times that his firm did ask for an astounding fee of $20,000 a day to try to overturn the election results. But, he also tossed a staffer under the nearest bus saying it was not him, but an associate who sent an email to the campaign with the demand. Giuliani claims he had no knowledge of it at the time. The Times’ Maggie Haberman writes:
Mr. Giuliani acknowledged in a brief phone interview that his associate, Maria Ryan, had sent the email shortly after Election Day. But he maintained that she consulted with another associate, Larry Levy, about what Mr. Giuliani should ask for from the campaign while Mr. Giuliani was out of town.
The Times writes of Ms. Ryan:
She wrote that the company was working on an engagement letter, and that instead of $2,000 an hour, “we will contract for $20,000 a day which will include all of the expenses for Mr. Giuliani and his staff.” The request was sent to at least three campaign officials, at a time when the campaign was raising expansive amounts of money for a legal fund to fight the election results.
The newspaper notes that Giuliani has previously denied he asked for the exorbitant fee. Now Giuliani says he never expected to be paid anything adding, “I feel extremely bad that I’m portrayed as some kind of money-grubbing ambulance chaser.”