Trump Aides Reportedly Gave Rudy Giuliani the Wrong Time to Keep Him Away From Debate Prep

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Rudy Giuliani

Attorney Rudy Giuliani was intentionally given the wrong time for debate prep with former President Donald Trump by aides who didn't want him interfering in the process, a new book alleges.

Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker make the claim in their new book, I Alone Can Fix It, as excerpted by Business Insider.

According to the book, the incident occurred in September 2020, as Trump, 75, was beginning a series of prep sessions for his debates with then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

While former GOP Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was involved, to serve as a stand-in for Biden, and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway also participated as a stand-in for moderator Chris Wallace, aides were reportedly less than enthused at the prospect of now 77-year-old Giuliani's involvement.

"Most of the other advisors found Giuliani's advice to be 'supremely unhelpful,' " the book claims, adding that the former mayor believed Trump should focus on Biden's son, Hunter, during the debate.

As the book details, aides to Trump tricked Giuliani into missing the majority of the prep by telling him it was scheduled for later in the day.

"Aides told Giuliani they would be gathering at 2:00 p.m., though they were scheduled to start at noon. They had tricked Giuliani by giving him the wrong time," the book says.

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Despite his late arrival, Giuliani seemingly convinced Trump of his approach.

The debate in question took place the following the day, proving to be wildly chaotic, with Trump repeatedly interrupting the moderator and heckling Biden.

In one of the most fiery exchanges of the night, Trump accused Hunter of being kicked out of the military for cocaine use and accepting millions of dollars from Ukraine.

Raising Hunter Biden's work for Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, Trump alleged that the former VP's son had profited while his father worked in the Obama administration.

Saying the claims were "totally discredited," Biden swiftly turned the conversation from Hunter to his late son, Beau.

"I don't know Beau," Trump responded. "I know Hunter."

"We want to talk about families and ethics?" responded Biden. "I don't want to do that. His family, we could talk about all night."

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The Giuliani debate prep incident is one of a number of scenes that play out in recent books highlighting the final days of the Trump administration.

I Alone Can Fix It also alleges that Trump once expressed the belief that he could beat George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in a presidential race and that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley was so concerned with Trump's behavior following his loss to Biden that he told colleagues he wanted to be "on guard" in case of an attempted coup.

Trump has denied many of the allegations, such as the claim concerning Milley.

"I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government," a statement released by Trump last week read. "So ridiculous! Sorry to inform you, but an Election is my form of 'coup,' and if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is General Mark Milley."

In another statement Thursday, Trump criticized some of those who had previously worked for him, saying: "Nobody had ever heard of some of these people that worked for me in D.C. ... Some of them — by no means all — feel emboldened, brave, and for the first time in their lives, they feel like 'something special,' not the losers that they are — and they talk, talk, talk!"