Piers Morgan Rudy Giuliani Interview Transcript: Get into Shouting Match Over Trump & Protests

Rudy Giuliani: (00:06)
Good morning.

Susanna Reid: (00:06)
Just after the September, the 11th attacks and you were being praised for your calm leadership, your cool head in the wake of what had happened. You were even dubbed at one stage, America’s mayor. What do you make of president Trump’s response? Because he has been criticized for not being able to calm the situation down.

President Trump is criticized for everything by the left-wing media. He has handled it exactly correctly. Immediately he brought the FBI into it. President Obama used to delay weeks before he brought the FBI into it. President Obama had many, many more of these incidents than president Trump. The difference is that the left-wing media, including the international media, treats president Trump in a totally different way and exaggerates all the situations involving him. He expressed immediately his horror at what happened. He brought the FBI into it. He, along with everyone in this country, Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, condemns what the police officer did. For example, I don’t believe they’ve been charged harshly enough. I think the Minnesota authorities and Minneapolis authorities have badly mishandled this case, and they should be charged with first degree murder, particularly the police officer who had his knee on the neck of Mr. Floyd while he was being told constantly that the man couldn’t breathe.

Well and that’s [crosstalk 00:01:47]

I was a prosecutor for 17 years of my life.

Yes.

And I prosecuted over 70 police officers. And I believe that the mayor, the governor and the authorities in Minneapolis have badly mishandled this case. [crosstalk 00:02:01]

Okay. And that’s fair enough, and I’m sure that many, many people will agree with you. But my point was about president Trump rather than your view of it. [crosstalk 00:02:11] For instance, shortly after what had happened and then the protests, he had tweeted using a phrase that a bigoted police chief had used decades ago, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Right.

Now, many people think that that was a totally inappropriate way [crosstalk 00:02:29] to calm down protest when that’s [crosstalk 00:02:33] almost a threat of violence that even Twitter took action over.

Of course it wasn’t. That’s part of what you do. That’s part of how you deliberately misinterpret president Trump, because the left-wing media has some kind of a hatred of him. That’s actually [crosstalk 00:02:51]

How is it appropriate to use [crosstalk 00:02:51]

Piers Morgan: (02:51)
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. Its Piers. [crosstalk 00:02:57] Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.

You know that’s true.

It’s Piers Morgan here.

You know that’s true. And the reality is [crosstalk 00:02:59] reality is whoever made that statement, the statement can mean a lot of different things. For example [crosstalk 00:03:05]

No, it was a Miami police chief.

Yes.

Who said that he didn’t care [crosstalk 00:03:09] about accusations of police brutality. He was a bigoted person himself. Why would president Trump [crosstalk 00:03:15] quote something like that?

He didn’t quote him.

When he’s trying to calm the situation down?

He didn’t quote him. He used that expression, probably not knowing where it came from. The reality is that this became out of control because the mayor of Minneapolis who is a left-wing, progressive Democrat, failed to protect the citizens of his city from riots.

Yeah, but Rudy [crosstalk 00:03:42]

Not only that [crosstalk 00:03:42]

Can I just in?

He gave [crosstalk 00:03:44]

Rudy, can I jump in?

Please let me finish.

It’s Piers Morgan here, first of all.

No, let me finish.

Well, it’s Piers [crosstalk 00:03:49] I want to say hello first.

Please have the courtesy of letting me finish. I’m up here at one o’clock in the morning to answer your questions.

Yeah, Rudy…

So I would think you would give me the courtesy of answering.

Rudy.

I know you don’t like my answers, but I would think you would give me the courtesy of giving them.

Rudy.

You have a completely warped picture of what happened, which is not atypical.

Rudy, can you hear me?

I mean, this is constantly what is being done to president Trump by the left-wing media.

All right, Rudy.

He has handled this really superbly.

Okay, Rudy.

Many fewer incidents [crosstalk 00:04:22] president Obama.

Can you hear me, Rudy? It’s Piers Morgan.

I can. I can hear you interrupting me, sure.

Okay. Well, A, it’s good to talk to you again. It’s been awhile. Secondly, I’m sorry.

Well, it’s nice to talk to you, but [crosstalk 00:04:34] I do want to answer.

Rudy, I’m sorry, but you’re talking total claptrap. Sorry.

No, I’m not, Piers.

Yeah, you are.

I am absolutely not.

You are. With respect [crosstalk 00:04:44]

You’re talking political propaganda.

You keep saying it’s the left-wing media that have somehow misquoted Donald Trump. The president of United [crosstalk 00:04:51]

I didn’t say they misquoted him. [crosstalk 00:04:51] I said they misinterpreted him.

The president of the United States’ job when this kind of thing happens is to keep temperatures down, not to put fuel on the fire. For the president of the United States [crosstalk 00:05:04]

He didn’t do that.

To tweet that [crosstalk 00:05:05] “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”, directly quoting a racist police chief back in the sixties who used dogs and guns on black people.

Do you think he went to a book and took that out of a book?

I don’t care, Rudy. [crosstalk 00:05:22] I don’t care if he knew where it came from or not.

Of course he didn’t.

He was quoting [crosstalk 00:05:28]

That’s a media creation [crosstalk 00:05:29]

He was quoting an infamous line.

Because of the way you demonized him.

And he was quoting an infamous line.

It’s disgusting how you people have become political propaganda, rather than journalists.

Who are you people?

You gave up being journalists years ago. [crosstalk 00:05:40]

I’ve known Donald Trump.

You are political propagandists.

I’ve known Donald Trump 13 years. I’ve been very fair minded about him as I’m sure you’re aware.

You really haven’t, Piers.

I’ve interviewed him many, many, many times. And I have found [crosstalk 00:05:52]

Well, if you’re trying to sell people that he deliberately quoted some racist, then you are engaging in absolute prying and deception. [crosstalk 00:05:59] please let me finish my answer.

I’m telling you, you shouldn’t give him a pass. Why are you giving him a pass?

Please let me finish. Why do I give him a pass?

Why do you say he didn’t [crosstalk 00:06:11] know where that quote came from? How do you know that?

Because I’ve know him for 30 years and I know he’s a fair man who doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. You know that too. And therefore you’re going through politically correct propaganda, so you can be popular in a [crosstalk 00:06:30]

No, I heard the president used the phrase, “When the looting starts…”

You know he’s not a racist.

Can you let me finish?

You know that. Well, ask a question and I’ll answer it.

Right.

But then don’t interrupt me.

If you just stop talking for a minute, I’ll tell you what my question is.

Did you want me on here to answer the questions or did you want me on here so you can make a political propaganda point?

Well, I see the only person making political propaganda statements is you so far.

I haven’t made any political propaganda statements.

You have. You said the whole thing [crosstalk 00:06:58] is a left-wing myth. Everyone’s got it in for poor old Donald Trump. And I’m telling you that when this thing started, the president’s job was to calm things down. Instead, he said, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” And from the moment he said that [crosstalk 00:07:12]

That happens to be true, by the way.

From the moment he said that, there’s been total carnage on the streets of America.

I don’t care who said that, Piers. That happens to be true.

Huh?

That happens to be an accurate statement.

And you think that’s a sensible thing, Rudy?

When you begin looting, people then protect themselves [crosstalk 00:07:23]

A sensible thing for the president to do?

Do you know, and did you report that a police officer was killed? Assassinated last night?

Yeah. I think what’s been going on in these [crosstalk 00:07:34]

Did you report that?

No, but I’m asking you [crosstalk 00:07:39]

Doesn’t that make your point that when the looting starts, the shooting starts? I don’t care who said that.

So you stand [crosstalk 00:07:45]

I have prevented numerous riots in my career. That is an accurate statement.

And you know where that quote comes from [crosstalk 00:07:51]

Accurate warning that if you continue to loot, you are going to bring about violence.

So you think it is right?

These people have [crosstalk 00:07:57] put hundreds of police officers in the hospital.

All right. Do you think it’s right [crosstalk 00:08:02] If I may jump in…

They killed a man yesterday. The president was warning them, if you loot, you are going to provoke violence. He may have picked a quote that comes 30 years ago from some nutty, horrible racist, but that is not what he did on purpose. That’s what you attributed to him because they are prejudice against him, and because what [crosstalk 00:08:23]

Why would any president say that? [crosstalk 00:08:25]

The kind of journalism you engage in [crosstalk 00:08:26]

Oh, stop banging on about left-wing journalism, Rudy. [crosstalk 00:08:30] Rudy, stop banging on about the left-wing. I’m not the left-wing media. I’ve written more [crosstalk 00:08:38]

Well, I don’t know what you are, but what you are now [crosstalk 00:08:38]

I’ve written more fairly about president Trump than anybody.

It’s totally [crosstalk 00:08:42] and defamatory.

When the president says, “When the looting [crosstalk 00:08:45]

And you’re not allowing me to explain it, because I have to talk over you.

No, you know what? You’re talking over me all the time.

Well, you’re darn right I am, because you’re lying to people, Piers.

I’m not lying.

You’re lying to them [crosstalk 00:08:57] and you’re misleading them. That was not deliberately taken from a racist. That is an accurate statement. When people begin looting, they provoke violence. The proof is the people who have been killed here by the rioters, not by the police. And by the way, there were only nine people, nine black people, unarmed that were killed by the police last year in America. There were hundreds of times more than that. Black people killed by other black people that the police have to prevent, including black police officers, like Captain Dorn, who was slaughtered last night, and it was ignored by the left-wing media.

There you go again. The left-wing media. Why don’t we get back [crosstalk 00:09:48]

Ignored. But [crosstalk 00:09:48] police officer was hardly covered in the Times, the Washington Post.

Why don’t we get back.

I bet you didn’t cover it. You want to bet you didn’t cover it?

Why don’t we get back [crosstalk 00:09:53]

Because it goes against your false narrative of police brutality. [crosstalk 00:09:57]

You know what we covered?

Which you exaggerate.

If you let me finish, I would say that the deaths of anybody in these protests and some of the rioting that’s going on is completely unacceptable. I don’t care if you’re left, right, whatever you are, whatever political persuasion. It is [crosstalk 00:10:14]

I don’t even know what you’re talking about now.

But I do know that when the president of the United States uses [crosstalk 00:10:19]

Oh, stop that. You’ve said that 40 times. That was not a quote that was taken from a racist.

It’s one of the most infamous quotes in America. You know it, and I know it.

It is not. I’ve never even heard it before. I’ve been in law enforcement for 20 years, Piers. I wouldn’t have known where that came from. What a bunch of garbage.

Where did he get it from?

What a bunch of garbage you’re spewing?

Where did he get it from?

It happens to be factually correct. No matter who it came from. If you start looting, people are going to start shooting.

Right.

They’re going to kill people, and they have killed people and you don’t cover it.

Right. So just to clarify [crosstalk 00:10:53]

Because you’re a bunch of phonies, that’s why.

Oh, really? You know what, Rudy [crosstalk 00:10:54]

And I am fed up with you.

Rudy, what happened to you?

You are professionally unethical.

What happened to you Rudy?

Nothing happened to me.

You used to be [crosstalk 00:11:06] one of the most. [crosstalk 00:11:06] You used to be one of the most revered people in America.

Watching how much you people lie, and distort.

Yeah. Let me just tell you something.

You are disgraceful.

You know what, Rudy?

You’re disgraceful.

You know what, Rudy? You used to be one of the most respected and revered people in America, if not the world. You were someone we looked up to.

Oh, who wants to listen to you, Piers. I mean, really. You can say anything you want, because I have no respect for you the way you’re covering this, and this nonsense about the fact that a man you know, and you know he’s not a racist, that he went and borrowed that deliberately from a guy who said it 30 years ago.

He should never have said it. And you should be big enough to admit, he should never have said it. That’s the problem. You’re so wound up with supporting Trump [crosstalk 00:11:51] you can’t see the wood for the trees.

Big enough to say that you people, misinterpreted him. You misinterpreted it on purpose to create [crosstalk 00:11:59]

I quoted him from his own tweet. What are you talking about?

Well, the question is, did he know that came from some racist 30 years ago? Well, he didn’t know that.

I don’t care if he knew it or not.

And the only reason [crosstalk 00:12:11] you don’t accept that [crosstalk 00:12:13]

I don’t care if he knew it or not. Why the hell was he using such inflammatory language?

It isn’t inflammatory. It’s accurate.

When the [crosstalk 00:12:19]

It’s an accurate [crosstalk 00:12:19]

When the looting starts, the shooting starts. [crosstalk 00:12:22]

Is he going to shoot them? [crosstalk 00:12:22]

It is an accurate warning.

Right.

And it actually happened. People have been killed by the looters, including an innocent man last night, who was guarding his friends store, who was African American and his life matters too, but not to you.

Why is president Trump [crosstalk 00:12:41] why has he not [crosstalk 00:12:41]

Because it doesn’t fit your narrative. You didn’t even report on that man being killed.

Why has president Trump [crosstalk 00:12:46]

Because you don’t care about him, because it doesn’t fit your false narrative.

Why has president Trump [crosstalk 00:12:50]

And what happened to me is the same thing that always happened to me. I happened to be in favor of truth and justice.

Really?

And you people are in favor of a phony political narrative.

Really? You know what, Rudy, I’m sorry [crosstalk 00:13:02]

You’re a disgrace, and the interview is over as far as I’m concerned.

You sound completely barking mad. Do you know that?

No, I don’t.

Piers Morgan Rudy Giuliani Interview Transcript: Get into Shouting Match Over Trump & Protests

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