‘Rudy is really hurt’: Giuliani reportedly banned from Fox News

Rudy Giuliani has reportedly been banned from Fox News.

Related: House committee on Capitol attack subpoenas Trump’s ex-chief of staff and other top aides

“Rudy is really hurt,” Politico quoted a source “close to Giuliani” saying.

According to the website, the prominent Trump ally learned of his expulsion on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, after which, as New York mayor, he became a national figure.

Fox News declined to comment on whether Giuliani had been banned.

Politico quoted its source as saying Giuliani was hurt “because he did a big favour for Rupert [Murdoch]. He was instrumental [in 1996] in getting Fox on Time Warner so it could be watched in New York City.”

Giuliani’s apparent expulsion may also be linked to Fox News business. Both the network and sometime personal attorney to Donald Trump have been sued by Dominion Voter Systems over false claims about supposed electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Fox News has filed to dismiss, citing first amendment protections of free speech and saying Dominion had not proved “actual malice” in its reporting.

A judge denied Giuliani’s attempt to have the suit dismissed. The former mayor has said his claims about Dominion are “substantially true”.

Since the election, and Giuliani’s championing of Trump’s lies about electoral fraud, his law licenses have been suspended in New York and Washington DC.

He has also admitted to lying on television. In a 2018 Department of Justice deposition recently made public, he told agents “you could throw a fake” during political campaigns.

His then law partner, Marc Mukasey, added: “You’re under no obligation to tell the truth.”

Giuliani repeated: “You could throw a fake.”

An agent said: “Fake news, right?”

Mukasey replied: “Right.”

Politico reported that Giuliani learned of his expulsion from Fox News on the eve of 11 September, when Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth told him he was cut from the anniversary show. A Fox News spokeswoman denied that Giuliani was ever scheduled to appear on Fox & Friends on 11 September.

The website also reported that Giuliani’s son Andrew, a former Trump aide now running for governor in New York, had been banned.

A Fox News spokeswoman denied that, citing appearances including an interview with the Fox News website on 10 September.

Bernie Kerik, once New York police commissioner under Mayor Giuliani, complained to Politico that he found it difficult to get on Fox News around 9/11, another claim Fox News rejected.

Giuliani did not immediately comment. But in a statement to the website, Kerik said Fox News had chosen “to intentionally ignore Mayor Giuliani who was, and who according to their own coverage for the last two decades was[,] America’s hero on the day and in the aftermath of the attack.

“Regardless of reasoning, I think this was another demonstration of Fox’s cowering to the far left.”

Trump has regularly attacked Fox News for perceived disloyalty. As he toys with another White House run, and reportedly with starting his own network, he has spoken favourably of Newsmax and One America News Network, would-be competitors on the hard right.

Politico also said one unnamed Trump aide “sniffed” that Fox News was “not doing us any favours”.