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Rudy Giuliani allegedly sent a text message begging Michigan to overturn the 2020 election. But he got the wrong number

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Andrew Feinberg

White House correspondent

Rudy Giuliani allegedly sent a text message imploring Michigan lawmakers to overturn the 2020 election results – but received the wrong number.

The embattled former New York City mayor, who also faces trial on charges of conspiring to manipulate the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona, has a long history of technical blunders and humiliating glitches.

The latest embarrassing example was detailed in special counsel Jack Smith's legal brief, filed in federal court in Washington DC on Wednesday, which lays out the federal election interference case against Donald Trump in the most detail to date.

contain the most comprehensive account and evidence of what happened leading up to the election and Trump's alleged attempt to undermine the result as if it were an opening statement to a jury.

Giuliani is not named in the filing but is considered “co-conspirator No. 1” and is accused of leading federal efforts to persuade Republican lawmakers to support Trump's mandate to overturn the 2020 election results.

According to the 165-page document, Trump turned to Giuliani when others “told the defendant what he didn't want to hear – that he had lost the 2020 election.” Trump hired Giuliani as his personal attorney because he was “willing to falsely claim victory and knowingly spread false claims of election fraud,” the document said.

Rudy Giuliani's latest failure is detailed in special counsel Jack Smith's legal document against Trump
Rudy Giuliani's latest failure is detailed in special counsel Jack Smith's legal document against Trump (REUTERS)

But when it came to sending an important message to Michigan lawmakers about overturning the state's election results, Giuliani didn't seem so helpful.

“On December 7, CC1 attempted to send a message to P37 (but failed because he entered the wrong number into his phone),” Smith’s document states.

The message Giuliani was allegedly trying to send was: “So you need to pass a joint resolution from the Michigan Legislature saying that *the election is disputed, there is an ongoing investigation by the Legislature, and *the voters of.” “Governor Whitmer is not the official elector of the State of Michigan and is not covered by the December 8 safe harbor deadline under Michigan law.”

The gaffe-prone Trump loyalist has a long history of technological failures. In 2017, a month after he was named Trump's cybersecurity adviser, he locked himself out of his iPhone after forgetting the passcode and entering the wrong one at least 10 times, NBC News reported reported at the time.

He “called reporters on the ass” several times. In 2019, he accidentally left two voicemails on an NBC reporter's phone in which he talked about needing money and launched a verbal attack on Joe Biden, then the Democratic presidential candidate.

Rudy Giuliani hosts a press conference in the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping in 2020
Rudy Giuliani hosts a press conference in the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping in 2020 (Getty Images)

Apart from the technical glitches, there were also a number of other mistakes.

The former mayor was mercilessly mocked when Trump held a Trump press conference on “election fraud” in November 2020 in the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a nondescript garden center in Philadelphia that appeared to have booked in error.

Giuliani's fall from grace has seen him go from a respected prosecutor and New York mayor who led the city through the devastation of the Sept. 11 attacks to a bankrupt and disbarred lawyer since becoming one of Trump's staunchest allies is.

An Arizona judge has set a 2026 trial date for Giuliani – who has pleaded not guilty – and other defendants in the Arizona fraud voter case.

Earlier this week, his own daughter, Caroline Giuliani, spoke about how Trump is “destroying everything he touches” as she supported Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Watching my father's life crumble since he aligned himself with Trump has been extraordinarily painful, both on a personal level and because his death appears to be linked to a dark force that threatens to engulf America once again,” wrote the 35 year oldVanity Fair on Monday.