Rudy Giuliani ‘outraged’ aides said he told Trump to claim victory while drunk

Rudy Giuliani said he is “disgusted and outraged” ​at accusations aired at Monday’s House hearing on the Jan. 6 investigation that he was “intoxicated” when he urged then-President Donald Trump to claim victory on election night in 2020. ​

“I am disgusted and outraged at the outright lie by Jason Miller and Bill Steppien [sic]. I was upset that they were not prepared for the massive cheating (as well as other lawyers around the President) I REFUSED all alcohol that evening. My favorite drink … Diet Pepsi,” he posted on Twitter Tuesday, misspelling Stepien’s surname.

“Is the false testimony from Miller and Stepien because I yelled at them? Are they being paid to lie?” he suggested in the social media post.

In videotaped testimony played at the Jan. 6 committee hearing Monday, Jason Miller and Bill Stepien, said the former New York City mayor demanded to speak to the then-president as the returns were coming in on election night and told Trump to declare victory.

“I think the mayor was definitely intoxicated,” Miller said.

Miller also told the panel: “I think effectively, Mayor Giuliani was saying, we won it, they’re stealing it from us, where’d all the votes come from, we need to go say that we won, and, essentially that anyone who didn’t agree with that position was being weak.”

Stepien’s lawyer, Kevin Marino, said his client “complied with the Committee’s subpoena and answered its questions truthfully. He has nothing to add to his testimony in response to Mr. Giuliani’s statements.”

Stepien was initially scheduled to appear in person at the Monday hearing but was excused at the last minute because his wife was in labor.

Giuliani lawyer Robert Costello told NBC News after the hearing the committee never asked his client about the drinking allegations during their lengthy closed-door questioning of him last month and hadn’t pressed him about his discussions with Trump that night.

In the past Giuliani has said that he enjoys a drink but has denied that he is an alcoholic. “I love Scotch. I can’t help it. All of the malts. And part of it is cigars, I love to have them with cigars. I’m a partyer,” he told New York magazine in 2019.