Trump campaign's stream of Giuliani press conference includes audio of people mocking him

Someone broadcast on President Trump's YouTube channel may have just learned a valuable lesson in the importance of the mute button.

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Thursday held a bizarre hour-and-a-half press conference leveling baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, and it was streamed on Trump's verified YouTube channel.

But those who tuned in could at one point hear unidentified people, who apparently didn't realize their audio was being broadcast, mocking Giuliani by joking about "Rudy's hair dye dripping down his face." The former New York City mayor could be seen sweating during much of the event. The person who made that comment was also heard asking, "Can they hear us on the stream? I guess not." In fact, they could.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Among other strange highlights from the affair was the revelation that Giuliani is apparently getting legal advice from Joe Pesci movie characters, as at one point, he quoted a scene from the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny to make a point about not being able to see things from far away, describing it as one of his favorite films and offering a not exactly spot-on impression of Pesci.

"Did you all watch My Cousin Vinny?" Giuliani asked reporters. "You know the movie? It's one of my favorite law movies because he comes from Brooklyn."

The Trump YouTube channel apparently removed the video of the press conference including the audio of Giuliani getting mocked, for, well, obvious reasons. Brendan Morrow