Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani seemed to appear unfazed by the allegations of sexual harassment made by a former staffer just hours ahead of his YouTube show on Monday.
During his 76-minute show, Mr Giuliani did not even once mention the allegations and continued to share his opinion on the Durham report.
The long-awaited report by US special counsel John Durham, which was released on Monday, found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lacked "actual evidence" to investigate Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and relied too heavily on tips provided by Trump's political opponents to fuel the probe.
Mr Giuliani, who previously worked as president Trump's personal attorney, continued his rant on the charges against Daniel Penny over the killing of Jordan Neely while boasting about his work cleaning up New York City’s Times Square as mayor.
"We didn’t let people get robbed, we didn’t let them get mugged or raped. We got rid of the unbelievably disgusting pornography houses,” he said on the show. “I mean, even the more reasonable pornography places left Times Square because it was too dangerous.”
Mr Giuliani, 78, was famously known as “America’s Mayor” for his response to the 11 September attacks.
His show America's Mayor Live on Monday garnered over 28,000 views in just four hours, a five times jump in viewership compared to his previous episodes. His episodes average between 5,000 to 10,000 views each month.
Mr Giuliani has been sued for $10m for sexual assault, harassment, wage theft and other misconduct by a former associate who claimed he forced her to perform sex acts on him.
Noelle Dunphy in a civil complaint filed on Monday in a New York state court alleged that Mr Giuliani began abusing her almost immediately after hiring her in January 2019 as a director of business development.
“He made clear that satisfying his sexual demands – which came virtually anytime, anywhere – was an absolute requirement of her employment and of his legal representation,” the lawsuit stated.
She claimed that the former mayor went on "alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist, and antisemitic remarks" that made her work environment unbearable. The lawsuit stated that she began working for Mr Giuliani in January 2019 and that he fired her in January 2021, without paying her the deferred salary.
Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for and adviser to Mr Giuliani, told The Independent in an email that the former New York mayor “unequivocally denies the allegations raised by Ms Dunphy”.
“Mayor Giuliani’s lifetime of public service speaks for itself and he will pursue all available remedies and counterclaims,” he added.
