President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani went off on a Fox Business host on Tuesday after she compared him to Christopher Steele.
Giuliani demanded an apology from host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, who goes by Kennedy, after she said he was “acting like Christopher Steele” by promoting documents and emails relating to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
“Some can say that you’re acting like Christopher Steele, that you were abstracting information,” the “Kennedy” host said before being interrupted by Giuliani.
“You got to be kidding me. I was acting like Christopher Steele?” Giuliani responded, referring to the former British spy and author of the “Steele dossier,” which contained unproven rumors about Trump and alleged the president’s 2016 campaign was compromised by Russia.
“You better apologize for that,” he added. “I mean, I’ve been a United States attorney, associate attorney general, mayor of New York City and a member of the bar for 50 years. I’ve never been accused of anything, and you’re accusing me of being Christopher Steele.”
Giuliani and Kennedy spoke over one another, with Kennedy saying, “I’m accusing you of acting in a capacity similar to Christopher Steele and that you were going back and forth between Ukraine and the United States.”
“What you’re saying is an outrageous defamation of me, of my reputation,” Giuliani responded, inviting Kennedy to come to his office to view the documents on Hunter Biden Wednesday and apologize on her show later that day. Kennedy answered she “will come see it.”
“I came on your show in good faith to give you evidence that is being withheld from the American people, and I get defamed,” the attorney said.
Giuliani then attempted to end the interview, saying, “This may be the last time we’ll be on camera because I don’t let people call me Christopher Steele.”
The contentious interview comes after Giuliani provided a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden to the New York Post, which published a series of controversial stories with the information. Several news outlets, including The Washington Post, have said they have not been able to verify the information on the laptop.
Kennedy noted that Fox Business has not been able to verify “large swaths of the material” from the documents, prompting Giuliani to say, “That’s because you don’t want to verify it.”
The host ended the interview by saying, “You can’t tell me you haven’t loved this conversation,” prompting Giuliani to respond, “I have not loved this conversation.”
“I find this conversation totally insulting,” he said. “You don’t accuse someone of being a criminal without any evidence, on speculation.”
Kennedy again denied accusing Giuliani of being a criminal.
Giuliani had searched for damaging information about Biden and his son during a visit to Ukraine last year, where he met a man that the U.S. has now identified as a Russian intelligence officer. He specifically sought information about Hunter Biden’s role at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company.
The New York Times reported in January that Burisma was hacked by Russia, and the newspaper reported earlier this month that U.S. intelligence predicted the emails would be leaked in October.
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Giuliani was the target of an influence campaign by Russian intelligence.