On Friday, May 10, 2024, Rudolph W. Giuliani was suspended from his radio show on WABC and the show was canceled by the station’s billionaire owner John Catsimatidis. This disciplinary action was taken after Giuliani violated company policy by attempting to discuss discredited claims about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election on air, despite repeated warnings not to do so.
Catsimatidis, a major Republican donor who owns WABC, explained the decision in a phone interview: “We’re not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it. So, he left me no option. I suspended him.”
Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, was one of the leading figures in former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to contest and overturn the 2020 election results. He served as Trump’s personal lawyer at the time and helped coordinate legal challenges to President Biden’s victory in several states in an effort to keep Trump in office.
The suspension from WABC deprives Giuliani of one of his only remaining major public platforms to reach his followers. Catsimatidis stated, “Look, I like the guy as a person, but you can’t do that. You can’t cross the line.” He added, “My view is that nobody really knows but we had made a company policy. It’s over, life goes on.”
Giuliani did not receive a salary from WABC but instead earned a percentage of the advertising revenue generated by his daily radio show, which aired weekdays and Sundays on the station. An employee at WABC said station staff had cut Giuliani off during the closing minutes of his Thursday show when he attempted to discuss election-related issues on air.
The disciplinary action from WABC adds to the mounting legal troubles and financial woes Giuliani has faced since his efforts to overturn the 2020 election over claims of election fraud. He has been criminally charged in Georgia and Arizona for his role in that effort and has been implicated in numerous lawsuits.
Perhaps most significantly, Giuliani now owes $148 million to two Georgia election workers he criticized in the aftermath of the 2020 vote. Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye Moss were subjected to harassment and threats after Giuliani accused them of illegally processing fake ballots. In December 2023, a federal jury in Atlanta awarded Freeman $67 million and Moss $81 million in damages.
Beyond the Georgia case, Giuliani is also facing legal issues stemming from his activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 when protestors stormed the U.S. Capitol. He spoke at the rally near the White House that day after the 2020 election and urged Trump’s supporters to pursue a “trial by combat” against election fraud.