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Trump attorneys described Giuliani as 'deranged' and likened the team pushing election fraud claims to a 'clown car,' report says

Rudy Giuliani
Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Thursday Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Lawyers working on the Trump campaign have said Rudy Giuliani seemed "deranged' and ill-prepared to lead the legal effort to overturn the election result, reported The Washington Post Sunday.

In a deep-dive into the Trump campaign's unprecedented attempt to overturn the election result, the Post reports that a rift developed in the campaign's legal team earlier in November.

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A turning point was reportedly a November 13 defeat in the 3rd District US Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania, where a judge threw out the Trump's campaign's bid to invalidate thousands of mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

After the result some of the campaign's key attorneys began to drift away from the effort to overturn the result, believing it signaled the end of the campaign's bid to credibly challenge vote counts. But Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, battled on.

Giuliani's efforts to overturn the election result have at times been farcical, with the former New York City mayor holding a press conference at a suburban garden center in an apparent mix-up in booking venues. At a media briefing on November 19, black liquid could be seen trickling down Giuliani's face, and fellow campaign attorney Sidney Powell alleged a vast conspiracy to overturn the election involving Venezuelan communists and Democrats.

Neither she nor Giuliani have provided compelling evidence to substantiate the claim, and the campaign has parted ways with Powell.

According to the Post, some of the campaign and GOP attorneys involved in the election challenge began to distance themselves from Giuliani earlier in November and sought to avoid meetings with Giuliani and his team. When Giuliani and Powell were asked by other campaign officials for evidence to substantiate their fraud claims, they were unable to produce it.

Some attorneys described Giuliani as seeming "deranged" in comments to the Post.

Giuliani clashed with other Trump campaign attorneys, according to the report, and continued to tell the president he had a serious chance of winning his lawsuits, while other officials offered more realistic assessments. Trump after November 13 handed Giuliani and his team control of the legal effort.

One senior administration official was scathing about Giuliani's strategy. "Just roll everybody up who is willing to do it into a clown car, and when it's time for a press conference, roll them out," is how the official characterized it to the Post.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Giuliani's conspiracy theories have reportedly proved too much even for Trump, according to reports, and though he continues to claim the election was stolen from him he has approved vital funds be released for Biden's transition.

Read the original article on Business Insider