I realized I hadn’t heard anything about Rudy Giuliani for a couple of days. We know that even during the Wednesday afternoon putsch, and the hours after, he was calling and texting Republican lawmakers to get them to at least delay the certification of the Electoral College votes because there was more evidence! Real evidence this time!
The most recent Rudy news I could find was in the right-wing Washington Times.
President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani said Friday that he is surprised more people did not try to storm the U.S. Capitol during the deadly insurrection they both fomented this week.
Mr. Giuliani, who on Wednesday recommended “trial by combat” as way of resolving the presidential election decisively lost by Mr. Trump, voiced disbelief “so few” people seized the Capitol hours later.
Speaking to Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s former aide, Mr. Giuliani also denied “Trump people” scaled the Capitol’s walls during the breach and baselessly laid blame on alleged outsider activists.
“Most of them hadn’t come there with implements to do it and also led on by people from, you know, groups that are experts at it. Believe me, Trump people were not scaling the wall,” Mr. Giuliani said.
“So there’s nothing to it that [Mr. Trump] incited anything,” Mr. Giuliani said on Mr. Bannon’s “War Room: Pandemic” podcast.
It’s a bit remarkable that the Washington Times admitted that the claim that not-Trump-supporters were behind the putsch is “baseless.” Note also that Steve Bannon’s channels since have been removed from YouTube. There is also speculation that Rudy could face charges in connection with the riot. Otherwise, Rudy seems to have crawled under a rock somewhere.
For that matter, we haven’t heard much from Ivanka since she deleted a tweet that called the insurrectionists “patriots.” See also Emily Jane Fox, “The Stink of His Family Is Nearly Impossible to Get Off”: Jared and Ivanka’s Final Chapter in Washington Demolished Their Future at Vanity Fair. In brief, Javanka is now persona non grata among pre-2016 friends and associates. Ivanka was serious about launching her own political career, and after Wednesday let’s just say she’s got a way to go with that.
I was also curious about Kimberly Guilfoyle, last seen dancing in this video made just before the pre-putsch “rally.” She told us the best was yet to come, but I’m not sure Wednesday was what she had in mind.
True story: I couldn’t remember Guilfoyle’s name, so I googled “crazy woman who spoke at Republican convention” and she came right up.
Ben Carson! I occasionally wonder about Ben Carson. I worry that people forget to check on him to be sure he’s still breathing. But in the past few hours he and Donald Trump, Jr., have both criticized Twitter for the lifetime ban of The Donald. Ben Carson also let us know he is aware the U.S. is not China. Well, good on you, Ben! You’re learning world geography!
I don’t wonder about Eric. I don’t want to know about Eric.
Bess Levin at Vanity Fair reports that Hope Hicks is resigning, again, but not because of what happened on Wednesday. Hicks wants everyone to be clear about that. Her second resignation is just a scheduling thing.
I am sad to report that Tiffany Trump is doubling down on family loyalty.
The 27-year-old Georgetown law school graduate hopped on Twitter, a platform she hasn’t much used recently, to issue a series of messages and retweets that repeated his false allegations of election fraud and that blasted Twitter and Facebook for locking his accounts or for removing his content that was seen as promoting election disinformation and inciting violence.
Oh, Tiffany. You got a law degree, girl. In spite of your least-favorite-daughter status and being stuck with a name worthy of a strip-club headliner, you were on the way to making something of yourself and building a life apart from Trump, Inc. And there you go making another appeal for Dad’s Approval. So sad. He doesn’t love anyone, you know.
I also regret to report that Steve Mnuchin has not resigned yet. He’s going to stay on the job until they drag him out. His wife Louise has made a new movie in which her character eats a spider, it says here, so we can still see her, if we want to.
Steve and Louise in happier (for them) times.
Mike Pompeo is also sticking it out. He will be addressing the staff of Voice of America on Monday. VoA staff are pissed they are being required to broadcast the speech, which they consider propaganda. That’s our Mike.
Acting Homeland Security Director Chad Wolf, whom you might remember was all over Portland last summer but who somehow couldn’t be bothered to respond to the riot in the Capitol, did emerge from his secret bunker long enough to issue a tweet condemning the violence on Wednesday. Yeah, we’re not impressed, Chad.
Although she’s not an official part of the Trump Administration, I want to give a special shout-out to Ginny Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. She was a big online cheerleader of the “rally” on Wednesday. There are reports she sponsored 80 buses of insurrectionists that went to DC. Since Wednesday she has been uncharacteristically quiet and, I understand, has even deleted her Facebook page.
Her husband might be concerned that if her involvement in the riots became widely known he might be pressured to resign. He might be right.