How Rudy Giuliani from went from 'America's Mayor' to Trump's pernicious pitbull
Rudolph Giuliani was born on May 28, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York. Raised on Long Island, Giuliani went on to attend the Bronx's Manhattan College before graduating magna cum laude from New York University School of Law in 1968.
Giuliani is the grandson of Italian immigrants, born to a working-class family comprised of firemen and policemen, which he said gave him an appreciation for public servants. "I grew up with uniforms all around me and their stories of heroism," Giuliani has said.
Giuliani's first marriage lasted 14 years before it was annulled after he discovered he was second cousins with his wife, Regina Peruggi.
Source: New York Daily News
In April 1984, Giuliani married Donna Hanover on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The couple later had two children: Andrew and Carolin.
Source: New York Daily News
Giuliani was a popular politician and first elected New York City mayor in 1993.
His administration had a strong effect on New York's unprecedented crime rates ...
... and had a strong public image because of his participation in events like New York's annual roast of the mayor, at which he appeared as his alter ego, Rudy Rudia.
Source: New York Daily News
He was recognized as a brave leader for New Yorkers and the country after the 9/11 attacks, earning the nickname "America's Mayor".
But his campaign proved disastrous after a series of missteps including ignoring primaries before Florida, relatively liberal policies, and a complicated family image, causing him to fall from the top of the polls.
Source: The Guardian
But since his exit from his widely popular time as a political candidate, his public image has grown somewhat bizarre.
Ahead of the 2016 election, he made repeated aggressive public comments against former President Barack Obama "doesn't love America" and pushed propaganda to make "people hate the police".
Source: Business Insider, The Hill
He cut a kooky figure when he was pictured wearing Apple AirPods sideways in May 2018.
Source: Business Insider
Giuliani joined, then quickly misstepped, as part of President Donald Trump's legal team.
Source: CNN
Over the course of the second year of the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, Giuliani was often at the forefront of changing narratives from Trump's camp on key points of the probe.
Source: Business Insider
Giuliani grew to be a controversial figure after growing closer to the Trump administration and its scandals. Notably, he was booed at a Yankees game after a stadium-wide announcement wished him a happy birthday.
Source: Business Insider
In one of his many lively television appearances, Giuliani perplexed "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd in August 2018 with a claim that Mueller could trap Trump in an interview because "truth isn't truth."
Source: Business Insider
Later in August 2018, Giuliani was the first among Trump's associates to admit that the the controversial 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between campaign officials and a Kremlin-linked attorney was to get "dirt" on his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Source: Business Insider
Giuliani later waved off investigators' focus on Trump's contact with Russians as a whole, saying that even if there was collusion, "collusion isn't a crime."
Source: Business Insider
By December 2018, Giuliani had also dismissed payments meant to silence women who said they had affairs with Trump, one of whom was porn star Stormy Daniels, as "not a crime," days after Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced in part for facilitating the payments.
Source: Business Insider
After Buzzfeed News reported Trump had directed Cohen to lie to Congress about plans for a Trump Tower Moscow, citing two federal law enforcement officials, Giuliani quipped to reporters: "If you believe Cohen, I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge."
Source: BuzzFeed News, Twitter
As the investigation into Trump's campaign wages on, Giuliani has continued his tangled public messaging, which could signal big developments from investigators and coming troubles for the president's team.
Source: Business Insider
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