Samantha Bee warns that Rudy Giuliani is successfully selling Trump's 'spygate' lie

Samantha Bee says Giuliani is winning the &quot;spygate&quot; PR war — (Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Full Frontal)

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal Russia investigation lawyer, is surprisingly frank that his media tour to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is "all just a big PR campaign," Samantha Bee said on Wednesday's Full Frontal. "Rudy is like a James Bond villain who explains his evil plot to 007 before he actually catches him — although no Bond villain has ever had teeth quite as grotesque as Rudy Giuliani, chaos demon."

In "his best moments," Giuliani "forgets he's there to lie and whoopsies out some true things," Bee said, showing examples. "But Trump's not keeping Rudy around for his brilliant legal mind, he's keeping him around to spread brilliant propaganda," specifically his "spygate" conspiracy. "No matter how many times Trump says it, there is no 'spygate,'" she explained. The FBI informant "was never implanted in the campaign, and none of this remotely sabotaged Trump who, if the trail of Happy Meal toys to the Resolute Desk is any indication, is our president."

"Of course, Trump and Rudy's story doesn't need to convince everyone, it just has to convince enough of his base so he can discredit the Mueller investigation," Bee said. "But to do that, he'd need a conservative media machine that's dishonest and manipulative enough to play along." You see where that's going. "Even though the Mueller probe has turned up 17 indictments and five guilty pleas, the 'spygate' narrative is successfully stirring up doubt about its legitimacy," she added. "We can make fun of Rudy all we want — and we will, because it's one of the few things that still brings us joy — but what he's doing is working. He's kind of like Loki, in that he spreads mischief and dates back thousands of years. But contrary to popular liberal belief, Rudy is not some senile old lunatic, he's a perfectly aware old lunatic who's genuinely enjoying screwing around with us." Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.