Giuliani picks Abe Lincoln filter for attack against McAuliffe

Rudy Giuliani waded into the Virginia’s governor’s race on Tuesday evening, recording a video using a filter to make him resemble former President Lincoln while attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe. 

“Virginia, vote against the man who honored our past by selling my bedroom hundreds and hundreds of times to scoundrels in a pay-for-play scheme,” Giuliani said in the clip in an accent meant to invoke Lincoln.

“In my time, we had a name for men who sold bedrooms for one night. In your time, the name is Terry McAuliffe. End the Clinton sleaze once and for all.” 

The former New York City mayor appeared to reference a 1990s controversy when then-President Clinton and his allies, including McAuliffe, were accused of exchanging overnight stays in the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom for political contributions.

McAuliffe was the finance chair of the Democratic National Committee at the time and denied he came up with the idea. The former Virginia governor and the Clintons have long been political allies and personal friends. 

This is not the first time the Lincoln Bedroom controversy has been brought up as an attack against McAuliffe during a gubernatorial race. In 2013, Ken Cuccinelli claimed that McAuliffe was “the person who invented the scheme to rent out the Lincoln Bedroom” in his unsuccessful bid. 

While Giuliani’s video is an attempt to tie McAuliffe to the Clinton administration, the video will likely provide fodder for Democrats looking to tie Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin to former President Trump. 

Giuliani served as Trump’s personal attorney and is one of the former president’s political allies being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation. The company alleged that Giuliani said Dominion’s machines manipulated votes for President Biden during the 2020 election.

Youngkin has not campaigned with Giuliani or Trump but was endorsed by Trump earlier this year.