Rudolph W. Giuliani, a personal lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump, admitted late on Friday that an associate sent an email to campaign officials asking Giuliani to receive $ 20,000 a day for his work after the election of November 3, but he insisted he didn’t know it at the time.
Giuliani acknowledged in a brief telephone interview that his associate, Maria Ryan, had sent the email shortly after election day. But he said she consulted another associate, Larry Levy, about what Giuliani should ask for from the campaign while Giuliani was out of town.
A copy of the email, revised by The New York Times, showed that she sent it from an Giuliani Partners email account.
“Sir. Giuliani started working on the case in the early hours of the morning of November 4,” wrote Ryan. “He has a team in Washington working on rented hotel rooms.”
She wrote that the company was working on a letter of commitment and that, instead of $ 2,000 an hour, “we will make a $ 20,000 contract per day, which will include all expenses for Mr. Giuliani and his team” was sent to at least three campaign officers at a time when the campaign was raising large amounts of money for a legal fund to fight electoral results.
When The Times asked about the November fee request, Giuliani denied it. He continued to maintain that it was a “lie” to have asked the president for such a fee, saying this on Friday afternoon on his radio program. “I didn’t do that,” he said.
In the telephone interview on Friday night, after The Times asked his spokeswoman about Ryan’s email, Giuliani said he told White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump: ” It’s ridiculous, it’s not true. ” I don’t want to be paid. “
Giuliani said he did not remember precisely when he had this conversation. And it was not clear whether he knew that Mrs. Ryan had sent the email when The Times first asked him about the payment request.
“I never expected to receive a cent,” said Giuliani, adding that some expenses have been reimbursed, but nothing more. He blamed Trump’s other advisers and criticized them as “incompetent” in preparing for the election.
“I feel extremely bad for being portrayed as a kind of ambulance hunter looking for money,” said Giuliani.
“I represented him for my sense of commitment,” he continued. “I didn’t see anything about it that would lead to great wealth. I saw a lot about it that would lead to great torture. “