Rudy Giuliani has always been a controversial figure.
He has received credit for "cleaning up" New York City and leading the city through 9/11,
but has also been criticized for a number of controversial stances and unhinged television
appearances.
Read on for some facts about this divisive figure.
Anyone who's ever caught an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is likely very
familiar with the "perp walk," when people who are suspected but not yet convicted of
committing a crime are paraded in front of the media as they enter a courthouse.
Per Reuters, the practice has been called "downright undemocratic" and has often been
criticized.
As Reuters also explained in 2011, the "perp walk" gained prominence as a practice during
Rudy Giuliani's time as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the
1980s, when he was responsible for prosecuting high-profile criminal cases.
Criminal law professor Laurie Levenson told the outlet that Giuliani made an "art form"
out of parading defendants in front of the cameras.
As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the 1980s, Rudy Giuliani was
involved in busting several major players in the mafia.
And according to Giuliani himself, he nearly got whacked for doing so.
In 2013, Giuliani appeared on Oprah: Where Are They Now?, and described how he discovered
later that the Mafia had put a price on his head.
As The Telegraph reported in 2014, an informant confirmed to Italian investigators that the
then-head of the Cosa Nostra had indeed planned to murder Giuliani, though the plan was canceled
for fear of the American authorities getting involved.
The New Yorker also disclosed in 2018 that the leaders of the infamous "five families"
in New York City nearly reached an agreement to have Giuliani taken out, until a deciding
vote from mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante thwarted that plan too.
In 1968 Rudy Giuliani married one Regina Peruggi, who was his father's first cousin's daughter.
In other words, she was Giuliani's second cousin.
The couple were married for 14 years, until Giuliani filed for an annulment in 1982.
The bizarre nature of Giuliani's first marriage entered the spotlight once again in May 2018,
when host of Last Week Tonight John Oliver brought it up for comedic fodder on his show.
Oliver noted the implausibility of Giuliani's claim that he only discovered that he and
Peruggi were related after many years of marriage.
After divorcing Regina Peruggi, Rudy Giuliani married Donna Hanover in 1984, and then announced
their impending separation after 16 years of marriage during a 2000 press conference
- which, as the New York Times reported at the time, was all news to her.
As Slate detailed, an irate Hanover, who had two children with Giuliani, went on to accuse
the then-mayor of having an affair with a staffer, a claim he denied because, in fact,
he was carrying on a relationship with a woman named Judith Nathan.
Giuliani went into attack mode, as Slate reported in the same article, quote, "publicly stripping
Hanover of her first-lady duties and insisting that the judge was wrong to keep Nathan apart
from his children."
"Integrity.
That's the first quality that comes to mind when I think of Rudy.
He's honest, and he's kind."
Fast forward to April 2018, and, per the New York Daily News, Judith Nathan had filed for
divorce from Giuliani after 15 years of marriage.
The contentious April 2018 split between Rudy and Judi Giuliani took a turn for the worse
in November 2018, when Judy accused her ex-husband of infidelity.
She also claimed he spent an excessive amount of money on his supposed paramour, Maria Rosa
Ryan.
In court documents obtained by NBC 4 New York, Judy apparently claimed that Rudy spent more
than $286,000 on Maria Rosa Ryan in the time period between April 2018 and November 2018,
although it's not clear how it was used.
Additionally, she accused him of splurging over $12,000 on cigars and over $7,000 on
pens, of all things.
"Would anyone like to sign these?
I have a lovely pen."
Unfortunately for the warring exes, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
Their feud continued through July 2019, when they fought over - wait for it - Christmas
decorations.
Judi's friend alleged to Page Six that Rudy is keeping quote, "a huge walk-in closet of
decorations" from his ex, including family heirlooms.
In response, Rudy claimed he was in the process of returning the holiday horde, and that it
was likely "in transit."
He also joked:
"There's a lot of time before Christmas, unless she wants to celebrate it on August 25th this
year, in which case I will expedite the shipment."
Reports of tension between Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton have proliferated since the
two briefly ran against each other as candidates for New York Senator in 2000.
Giuliani has been taking swipes at Clinton as recently as March 2018, when he made a
tasteless joke about the former Secretary of State's weight at a benefit at President
Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club.
And yet, in 2016 Politico reported that Giuliani's daughter, Caroline, was a hardcore supporter
of Clinton in her bid for president.
When reached for comment, Caroline told the outlet:
"I love Hillary, I think she's by far the most qualified candidate that we've had in
a long while.
[...] My dad knows.
I was for Barack [Obama] in 2012.
He knows and is fully comfortable with it and thinks I have a right to my opinion."
In addition to his ongoing issues with Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani has entered into numerous
public spats over the years.
The following is just a sample: In 2011, as Salon reported, Giuliani derided then-governor
of New Jersey Chris Christie for not heading back to his home state to help with snow clean-up
after a blizzard, to which Christie replied,
"It's easy when you are out of office to be shooting from the peanut gallery when you
no longer have any responsibility."
In 2012, Giuliani sounded off on then-vice president Joe Biden on several occasions.
"This vice president has made more dumb, stupid idiotic comments than anyone.
He's an embarrassment."
Slate reported that in 2002, Giuliani made similar comments about the vice president,
saying:
"I have never seen a vice president that has made as many mistakes, said as many stupid
things."
It's possible he was still smarting from then-Senator Biden's assessment in a 2007 Democratic presidential
primary debate:
"Rudy Giuliani...there's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb
and 9/11."
Giuliani aired his grievances against, of all people, Beyoncé, when he appeared on
Fox & Friends in August 2016 to criticize her recent performance at the MTV Video Music
Awards.
Bizarrely, that wasn't even the first time he'd publicly spoken out against one of Beyonce's
performances.
He'd previously slammed the singer's Super Bowl performance during an appearance on Fox
& Friends, saying:
"I think it’s outrageous.
The Halftime Show, I thought, was ridiculous anyway.
I don’t know what the heck it was - a bunch of people bouncing around and strange things."
On the other hand, maybe he was just jealous that he wasn't invited onstage with everyone
else.
In a 2000 video clip, then-mayor Rudy Giuliani appears in drag as a woman named "Rudia,"
attempting to seduce Donald Trump.
In character, Giuliani splashes perfume on himself and then, to put it bluntly, Trump
sticks his face into the character's bosom.
Giuliani reacts by slapping him on the cheek.
According to Business Insider, the bizarre skit was filmed as part of the Mayor's Inner
Circle Press roast, an annual parody event where the mayors of New York City are encouraged
to show off their, quote, "lighter side."
This wasn't the first time that Giuliani had dressed in drag for laughs.
In 1997, The New York Times reported that the mayor appeared on stage at that year's
Inner Circle roast "in high heels, a full-figured spangled pink gown, a platinum-blond wig and
several pounds of makeup."
Huh.
And who said mayors didn't know how to throw a party...
Before his death in May 2017, Manuel Noriega was best known as the former dictator of Panama,
which he ruled between 1983 and 1989.
Lesser known, however, is his face-off with Rudy Giuliani over a video game.
As the Associated Press reported in September 2014, Giuliani, who was then back to practicing
law full-time at his own firm, agreed to help Activision Blizzard Inc. by requesting that
a Los Angeles judge drop a lawsuit Noriega had filed against the video game company.
Noriega's complaint?
His likeness had been used without permission in the 2012 game Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
"This is not the deal.
Call your boss."
Giuliani told the press:
"I am outraged that [Noriega] is seeking millions and millions of dollars that he can take down
to a Panamanian prison from a great American company."
Per The Guardian, Giuliani even used himself as an example of why historical figures shouldn't
attempt to profit from the use of their likeness, saying:
"I was the mayor of New York and during that time I created a history, and people have
the right to write about that accurately, inaccurately and in a fictional way - I have
no financial right to recover for that."
As CNN reported, Noriega's lawsuit was dismissed in October 2014; in a statement, Giuliani
noted:
"This is not just a win for the makers of Call of Duty, but is a victory for works of
art across the entertainment and publishing industries throughout the world."
Rudy Giuliani's time as mayor of New York City was marked by a particularly strange
- and, thanks to the internet, infamous - cause: the anti-ferret movement.
"What's the matta?
What is that?
Oh excuse me, I forgot to tell you...zis is my ferret."
As Slate explained, in June 1999, the Giuliani administration lorded over ferret owners when
the New York Board of Health voted to include them on its list of "banned creatures," continuing
a law that many deemed unnecessarily stringent.
A month later, a pro-ferret activist called into the mayor's radio show, prompting Giuliani
to go a tirade against the animals and the activist.
"This excessive concern for little weasels is a sickness."
Then in 2001, the New York City Council voted to legalize ferret ownership, though Giuliani
continued his vendetta and immediately vetoed the rule.
When asked in 2014 about New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio's potential move to legalize
ferrets, Giuliani told The New York Times he'd be okay with it if there was any scientific
evidence to back up the decision.
The ferret ban continues to this day.
Rudy Giuliani's role in the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump appears to
go far beyond what triggered the whole thing: Trump's now-infamous phone call with Ukraine
president Volodymyr Zelensky.
It's a complicated situation with many players and allegations, especially where it concerns
the former New York City mayor.
According to The New York Times, Giuliani worked with Ukraine businessmen and officials
to dig up potentially damaging information about Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, who once
worked for a controversial Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings.
Although it's not illegal for a personal attorney to investigate a political opponent, as NPR
justice reporter Ryan Lucas noted, it's problematic for a president to personally direct this
type of investigation.
It also doesn't help that Trump, after allegedly asking Zelensky to look into the Bidens, encouraged
him to speak with Giuliani.
A transcript of the call reveals Trump as saying:
"Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy.
[...] If you could speak to him that would be great."
Giuliani has denied any wrongdoing, however, telling The New York Times of his Ukraine
dealings:
"We're not meddling in an election, we're meddling in an investigation, which we have
a right to do."
In September 2019, U.S. House Democrats subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani in regards to President Donald
Trump's phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky The democrats leading Trump's
impeachment inquiry want more information about Giuliani's possible role in the call,
especially since he's admitted to asking Ukraine to investigate Biden.
The ex-mayor was asked to produce documents related to the matter on October 15, 2019.
On the deadline, however, Giuliani said he'd ignore the subpoena.
According to ABC News, he said:
"If they enforce it, then we will see what happens."
So what could happen if Giuliani continues to ignore it?
The possibilities include a potential year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
And if Congress goes after the ex-mayor for dodging the subpoena, it's unlikely the Trump
administration would actually prosecute him for it, according to Market Watch.
If this is the case, the matter could head to federal court.
Bottom line?
It's never a good idea to ignore a subpoena, especially when you're a lawyer.
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