Rudy Giuliani caught off guard on shady phone call

On Showtime’s The Circus: Inside the Wildest Political Show on Earth, Rudy Giuliani gave a television interview without even knowing it when John Heilemann called to get his opinion on a tweet Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti had recently posted. The shady thing here is that Heilemann had Giuliani on speaker phone and didn’t tell him that Avenatti was in the room. In the tweet, Avenatti claimed that Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen had received large sums of money from a company linked to Russia. Giuliani first claimed the information in the tweet was false, saying, “I have no idea what you're talking about, and I wouldn't put any stock in it until I can see records.” He added that he’s not going to even entertain the thought that it might be true. Giuliani then attacked Avenatti. “He’s been flying all over the place. Not much of a lawyer. I can’t even find a client he represented or a case he’s ever been involved in that meant anything,” Giuliani said. “This is a failing lawyer who’s trying to desperately make some money. Trying to survive,” he added. As shady as it was to not tell Giuliani that Avenatti was in the room, at least Heilemann got permission to use the call on the show. Unfortunately for Giuliani, much of what he said was false. Since the call, it has been confirmed that Cohen was receiving money from Columbus Nova, a company with close ties to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Giuliani’s attack on Avenatti was also unfounded. Avenatti has been involved in many high profile cases, even winning a case against the NFL in 2015.