Bankrupt Rudy Giuliani Sought Trump Payment 'Any Number of Times'—Court Documents

Rudy Giuliani has sought a $2 million payment from Donald Trump "any number of times," the former New York mayor told a bankruptcy deposition.

Giuliani lost a $148 million lawsuit and has been disbarred as a lawyer as a result of his work for Trump, yet has never been paid for his services. He told the deposition that the former president's campaign officers have ignored the numerous invoices he has sent and have only ever paid his expenses. Newsweek sought email comment from Giuliani's spokesperson and from Trump's attorney on Thursday.

During the legal fight after the 2020 election, Giuliani made defamatory comments about two Georgia election workers. A Washington, D.C., jury awarded them $148 million in December 2023 for falsely claiming that the two had fixed the Georgia election for Joe Biden. Giuliani declared bankruptcy three days later.

On Wednesday, Giuliani's lawyers appeared in bankruptcy proceedings and announced that he wanted to liquidate his assets.

His creditors' lawyers strongly opposed the move and say that Giuliani is making his application just as the creditors are applying for full disclosure of his undisclosed assets and are seeking to appoint a trustee to oversee Giuliani's finances.

It emerged that the creditors are considering compelling Giuliani to sue Trump because the legal fees still haven't been paid and the creditors want to claim it.

In a February 7 deposition before attorney Andrea Schwartz, from the Office of the United States Trustee, Giuliani said that he has never been paid anything by the Trump campaign. The office may appoint a trustee to oversee Giuliani's income and assets.

Giuliani told Schwartz that Trump appealed to him to join the campaign as soon as the election was over and the former president began disputing the result.

"After the election was over, the day or two after, President Trump asked me to take over the campaign legal staff," Giuliani told Schwartz. She asked why the former New York mayor took over the legal staff at this point.

Giuliani said that, at the time, Trump had a "tremendous number of complaints" about how the election had been conducted and that "there had been fraud in the election."

"And he asked me to spearhead that effort, to head that effort [against alleged fraud]," Giuliani said.

He added that he had about 12 campaign lawyers working for him in Washington, D.C., and had about 100 in total through the U.S. Giuliani said he took up full-time residence at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C.

"But, remember, this was COVID period. After I got COVID and I went to the hospital and came back, I moved to the Willard hotel," Giuliani added.

After hearing that he had moved to the luxurious Willard InterContinental hotel in the center of Washington, D.C., Schwartz said: "You don't slum it."

When she asked if he was on a salary at that time, Giuliani replied: "I was supposed to. I got paid expenses, but I never got a salary.

"Once I took over, it was my understanding that I would be paid by the campaign for my legal work and my expenses would be paid.

"When we submitted the invoice for payment, they just paid the expenses, not all, but most of the expenses. But they never paid the legal fees," he said.

Schwartz asked: "Who was the person that declined to pay your fees?"

Giuliani replied: "Well, the campaign, whoever was the treasurer at the time. I don't remember."

"So what did you do about that?" Schwartz asked.

"We have for any number of times asked to be paid. Expenses were paid. And we haven't been paid."

Giuliani said that he had never calculated how much Trump owes him, but that total figure was "about $2 million."

When Schwartz asked him if he would be satisfied if the Republican National Committee or the Trump campaign now paid him $2 million, Giuliani said he would, but added that was a rough figure.

As an attorney for Trump in 2020, Giuliani falsely alleged a mother-daughter duo committed election fraud while they were counting ballots in Atlanta, Georgia. On July 2, a New York court disbarred Giuliani as an attorney as a result of those false claims.

When he declared bankruptcy in December 2023, Giuliani said that he was considering legal action against Trump for lack of payment.

In the bankruptcy paperwork, he was told to declare "claims of every nature." Giuliani wrote that he had a "possible claim for unpaid legal fees against Donald J. Trump."