Donald Trump ignored former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani when thanking New York Republicans for their 2024 endorsements, a move that could suggest the former president has fallen out with one of his most loyal supporters.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, Trump said: "Thank you to all of the Great Politicians, Representatives, and County Committees for your Endorsement of me. New York State is a much different place now than it was even two years ago."
He added: "We will be making a very heavy play for New York in the upcoming Presidential Election. November 5th will be the most important day in the History of our Country!"
The social media post was accompanied by a list of New York lawmakers in the House of Representatives, New York State Electeds, New York City Council members, New York State Clubs & Committees and "notables" who have endorsed Trump in his campaign for the White House.
Newsweek contacted Trump's 2024 campaign for comment by email early on Tuesday.
The list, which included over 80 names, doesn't mention former New York City Mayor Giuliani, who could have been included in the notable category, where other former officeholders are listed.
Nor does it mention George Santos, the expelled Republican congressman who, despite falling out of grace for lying about his biography and misspending campaign funds on Botox injections and luxury products, recently announced he's running again for office in 2024.
Trump has never weighed in on the controversy surrounding Santos, who represented New York's 3rd congressional district for less than a year between January and December 2023.
But previous reports have shown that the former president is apparently uninterested in Santos. When the former New York congressman attended Trump's watch party in New Hampshire in January, he told reporters that he had done so in his personal capacity, as he had not been invited.
There's more evidence to show that the years-long bond with Giuliani might have finally broken.
Already in 2021, the relations between the two was creaking, as Trump reportedly refused to pay Giuliani's legal bills. The Washington Post wrote that the former president instructed his aides not to pay Giuliani's standing fees, saying he was offended by the former mayor's request for $20,000 a day.
The issue reemerged a couple of years later, when it turned out Trump had still not paid Giuliani the money he had reportedly promised his team with a "handshake agreement," as mentioned by CNBC.
After Giuliani was named among Trump's co-conspirators trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, it emerged that he was among several Trump allies who had never been paid by the former president's political operation for the work done in late 2020. This information was revealed in a private interview between special counsel Jack Smith's team and Timothy Parlatore, an attorney for Giuliani associate Bernard Kerik.
Despite this, Giuliani declares himself to still be loyal to Trump. Rolling Stone recently reported that the former lawyer said he'd never "break" Trump or betray him, despite the mounting legal fees and criminal charges he's facing.
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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. and European politics, global affairs ... Read more
