Rudy Giuliani attended midnight mass at the Catholic St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Christmas after an interview revealed how he slammed liberal financier George Soros by questioning his Judaism – even though the Hungarian-born billionaire is a Holocaust survivor.
The former New York City mayor posted a photo on his Instagram page of Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, blessing the alter.
‘Cardinal Egan blesses the altar at midnight to begin the sacrifice of the Midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. His homily on the meaning of midnight was a beautiful description of the significance of the birth of the son of God,’ Giuliani wrote.
Giuliani was blasted for his comments in the interview with NY Magazine, which he gave while drinking Bloody Marys at the posh Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side of New York City.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was one of those critics, accusing Giuliani of setting ‘new lows in pathetic, spineless behavior.’
‘I know @RudyGiuliani is determined to set new lows in pathetic, spineless behavior these days — but this anti-Semitic rant is particularly dangerous. The attacks our Jewish communities have endured are fueled by this kind of loathsome hate. He’s an absolute disgrace,’ de Blasio wrote on Twitter.
Rudy Giuliani (left) told New York magazine that he is ‘more of a Jew’ than George Soros (right), the Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and financier who has supported liberal causes
Rudy Giuliani posted a photo from St. Patrick’s Cathedral’s midnight mass
Rudy Giuliani seated during service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio accused Giuliani of setting ‘new lows in pathetic, spineless behavior’ with his attacks on Soros
Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, at midnight mass
Giuliani went after Soros in the interview, saying he was more Jewish than him. The former mayor has repeatedly targeted the billionaire as part of his argument of a deep state conspiracy at work against President Donald Trump.
‘Don’t tell me I’m anti-Semitic if I oppose him,’ the former mayor said of Soros in a rambling, bizarre interview with New York magazine that was published on Monday.
‘Soros is hardly a Jew. I’m more of a Jew than Soros is.
‘I probably know more about – he doesn’t go to church, he doesn’t go to religion – synagogue.
‘He doesn’t belong to a synagogue, he doesn’t support Israel, he’s an enemy of Israel.
‘He’s elected eight anarchist DA’s in the United States. He’s a horrible human being.’
Giuliani, who is President Trump’s personal lawyer, alleged that Soros is responsible for the appointment of Maria Yovanovitch to the post of US ambassador to Ukraine.
‘He put all four ambassadors there,’ Giuliani said of Soros. ‘And he’s employing the FBI agents.’
The remarks by Giuliani drew a rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, one of the country’s most influential Jewish organizations.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, told The Daily Beast: ‘Mr. Giuliani’s assertion that George Soros controls US ambassadors, employs FBI agents and is “hardly a Jew” is baffling and offensive.
‘Let’s be crystal clear: Mr. Giuliani is not the arbiter of who is Jewish and who is not, or what is anti-Semitic and what is not.
‘For decades, George Soros’ philanthropy has been used as fodder for outsized anti-Semitic conspiracy theories insisting there exists Jewish control and manipulation of countries and global events.
‘Mr. Giuliani should apologize and retract his comments immediately, unless he seeks to dog whistle to hardcore anti-Semites and white supremacists who believe this garbage.’
Soros, who became a billionaire after a successful career in investing, has been the subject of a number of conspiracy theories spread by far-right circles.
He heads the Open Society Foundations, an international philanthropic group that donates money to spread liberal values in the United States as well as Central and Eastern Europe.
Yovanovitch was removed from her position as envoy to Kyiv – reportedly at the behest of the president and his lawyer, Giuliani.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, one of America’s most influential Jewish organizations, slammed Giuliani’s comments about Soros as ‘baffling and offensive’
Democrats say the White House orchestrated her removal to make it easier for Trump allies to persuade Ukraine to launch corruption investigations of Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
Trump’s push to have Ukraine launch investigations that were seen as politically beneficial to him as led to his impeachment by the Democrat-controlled House.
In his interview with New York magazine, Giuliani bizarrely claimed that not only is Soros responsible for Yovanovitch, but he is also paying FBI agents as well.
The former mayor offered no evidence to support his claims.
In the free-wheeling interview, conducted after his trip to the Ukraine and while swilling Bloody Marys at The Mark Hotel in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the former New York City mayor spouted off his business dealings, reports of his drinking, and his work with President Donald Trump.
He told the magazine the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) would be ‘out of their minds’ if they were investigating his connections to Ukraine and his finances, calling them ‘Trump-deranged’ New York liberals.
Giuliani serves as personal attorney to Donald Trump and said he’d love to defend the president in the Senate impeachment trial
Giuliani is believed to be the subject of a criminal probe being run by investigators with the Southern District of New York, the US attorney’s office that he once headed before going into politics.
‘If they’re investigating me, they’re a**holes. They’re absolutely a**holes if they’re investigating me,’ he said of SDNY.
‘If they are, they’re idiots,’ he went on.
‘Then they really are a Trump-deranged bunch of silly New York liberals.’
Giuliani, who ran that office in the 1980s – a position that helped launch his mayoral campaign, said he didn’t know for sure if he was being investigated.
Some of his associates have received subpoenas from SDNY requesting documents and correspondents from Giuliani or his firm, specifically ‘any actual or potential payment’ to or from Giuliani.
‘If they think I committed a crime, they’re out of their minds,’ Giuliani said. ‘I’ve been doing this for 50 years. I know how not to commit crimes. And if they think I’ve lost my integrity, maybe they’ve lost theirs in their insanity over hating Trump with some of the things they did that I never would’ve tolerated when I was U.S. Attorney.’
Two Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were indicted for campaign finance violations. The two men also reportedly helped Giuliani in his campaign to get the Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.
The former mayor explained to NY Magazine why he worked with Parnas and Fruman.
‘They look like Miami people. I know a lot of Miami people that look like that that are perfectly legitimate and act like them,’ Giuliani said.
‘Neither one of them have ever been convicted of a crime. Neither one. And generally that’s my cutoff point, because if you do it based on allegations and claims and — you’re not gonna work with anybody,’ he said, laughing. ‘Particularly in business.’
He also argued the prosecutors in the Southern District of New York were jealous of his legacy, when he took out several crime families when he was top federal prosecutor in the state.
‘It’s a terrible thing to say because it will get the Southern District all upset, but I know why they’re all upset,’ Giuliani said. ‘Because they’ve never done anything like me since me. They haven’t done an eight years like I did since I left being U.S. attorney. Nothing close.’
The interview took place in The Mark Hotel, a five-star establishment on E 77th Street on the posh Upper East Side of New York City, on December 8, shortly after Giuliani returned from a trip to the Ukraine.
Giuliani ordered a Bloody Mary.
‘I’d like some sparkling water. And I know you have wonderful Bloody Marys,’ the magazine notes he told the waiter.
‘Yes, sir,’ the waiter said, ‘and I know you love them.’
‘You’re a good man!,’ Giuliani replied.
Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas (left) and Russian born businessman Igor Fruman (right) exiting the United States Courthouse in the Manhattan in October
Rudy Giuliani was spotted partying at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Saturday night
Giuliani, when he was chief U.S. Attorney in New York during the 1980s
In the interview, Giuliani downplayed an interview where his former wife Judith implied he was an alcoholic.
There have been reports Republicans have been wary of him defending the president because of the way he comes off in some of his television appearances.
‘Oh yeah, yeah — I do a lot of drugs,’ Giuliani said sarcastically.
‘There was one I was addicted to. I’ve forgotten what it is. I don’t know where the drug things come from — I really don’t. The alcohol comes from the fact that I did occasionally drink. 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 partier.’
The former mayor was captured on social media over the past weekend, partying at Trump’s winter estate Mar-a-Lago, at a Studio 54 themed party there.
Giuliani, who serves as a personal lawyer to the president, said he would love a chance to defend Trump during his impeachment trial in the Senate.
‘I’m great at it. It’s what I do best as a lawyer. That’s what I would be good at,’ he said. ‘Oh, I would love it, I could rip — you know, I hate to sound like a ridiculously boastful lawyer, but cross-examining them would be, I don’t know, I could’ve done it when I was a second-year assistant U.S. Attorney. They’re a bunch of clowns.’
In addition to his work for Trump, Giuliani has set up his own consulting firm and some of the foreign clients he’s taken on have led to questions about possible conflict of interest.
And there have been reports federal prosecutors are looking into whether Giuliani should be registered as a foreign agent.
Giuliani seemed to shrug it off.
‘My attitude about my legacy is F*** it,’ he told NY magazine.
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