Former President Donald Trump is hosting a fundraiser Thursday night to pump money into a legal defense fund for Georgia co-defendant Rudy Giuliani, according to two sources close to the former New York City mayor.
Trump is holding the fundraiser at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, after Giuliani was indicted alongside him for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia and he was found liable for defaming two election workers in promoting Trump's stolen election claims.
Giuliani's son, Andrew Giuliani, who worked in the Trump White House, touted the fundraiser in an interview on WABC radio of New York City earlier in the day.
“I am happy to say … we’ve raised over $1 million for this event alone,” Andrew Giuliani said, adding that the amount “won't be enough to get through this.”
He said Trump had also committed to hold another fundraiser for his father in the fall or early winter at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
A Trump campaign spokesman referred questions about the event to Giuliani’s team.
Thursday's fundraiser came about after appeals for direct financial assistance from Trump failed, according to The New York Times, which first reported plans for the event.
Andrew Giuliani said in Thursday’s radio interview that his father and Trump had lunch together this week and that “there is no wedge” between the two.
The big-spending Giuliani was having financial problems even before he was hit with 13 counts in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' racketeering indictment, which alleged Trump, Giuliani and 17 other people schemed to illegally overturn Joe Biden's election victory in Georgia.
Giuliani was Trump's main lawyer in his charge to reverse the election outcome in numerous states, and he repeatedly touted and promoted conspiracy theories and debunked stolen election claims in the media and at hearings in various battleground states.
His efforts on Trump's behalf have come at a professional cost — his law license has been suspended, he has been investigated by the FBI and named in numerous lawsuits, and he faces disciplinary proceedings.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., last week found Giuliani liable for defaming Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss after he'd failed to turn over documents and information he'd been ordered to provide to them.
In court filings, Giuliani said one issue was he couldn't afford to pay for a service that does electronic document checks. The judge has said there will be a trial early next year to determine how much he owes Freeman and Moss in money damages for falsely accusing them of fraud.
