Rudy Giuliani, former Trump adviser and mayor of New York City, admitted April 25th that he utilized a “dirty trick” to suppress the Hispanic vote during the 1993 NYC mayoral election.
On his Youtube show, America’s Mayor Live, Giuliani disclosed to former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake that he engaged in purposeful voter suppression tactics to increase his changes of winning the mayoral race after losing his initial bid for mayor in 1989.
Giuliani Confesses To Voter Suppression ‘Dirty Trick’
During his America’s Mayor Live YouTube show, Rudy Giuliani told guests Steve Bannon and Kari Lake that he had felt he’d been “cheated” during the 1989 New York City mayoral race, and decided to change his strategy for his second attempt in 1993: “I’ll tell you one little dirty trick,” said Giuliani.
“A dirty trick in New York? I’m so shocked,” quipped Bannon.
“By Republicans!” interjected Giuliani, to which Bannon replied, “Republicans don’t do dirty tricks.”
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"How about this one?" countered Giuliani. The former lawyer then expanded on his claim, telling Bannon and Lake that for the 1993 campaign he had spent $2 million on a Voter Integrity Committee headed by Randy Levine, the current president of the New York Yankees, along with former New York Republican congressman John Sweeney. "So they went through East Harlem, which is all Hispanic, and they gave out little cards, and the card said: 'If you come to vote, make sure you have your green card because [US Immigration and Naturalization Service] are picking up illegals.' So they spread it all over the Hispanic..." said Giuliani.
Giuliani added that after the election, the campaign was investigated by the "Clinton civil rights commission" for the incident. "They don't have civil rights," said Giuliani, referring to the Hispanic voters that were deterred by the false INS claims. "All we did was prevent people who can't vote from voting. Maybe we tricked them, but tricking is not a crime...And that's the way we kept down the Hispanic vote."
"Not the legal vote, the illegal vote," clarified Lake.
"Of course! The Hispanic illegal vote, which takes away the Hispanic legal vote," Giuliani agreed.
Giuliani: 'Nowadays [They'd] Probably Prosecute'
The former Trump lawyer also stated that, though he was not charged in the situation, "In those days, we didn’t have crazy prosecutors. Nowadays, they’ll probably prosecute you for it," referring to his so-called "dirty trick."
The Huffington Post compiled a series of news reports from the time of the '93 mayoral election that referred to Giuliani's alleged voted suppression tactics. David Dinkins, the incumbent mayor of New York City defeated by Giuliani in the race, announced in a news conference on Election Day that Giuliani had engaged in "voter intimidation and dirty tricks" to impact the voting.
A press release from the same day authored by James P. Turner, acting assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration Justice Department in 1993, noted that the department had received reports of "posters...placed throughout New York City misinforming voters about the role of Federal officials in today’s elections." The release also emphasized that no immigration officials were being stationed at polling places and encouraged voters to vote as they normally would.
Giuliani may have gotten away with his "dirty trick" in 1993, but he has plenty of other legal woes to keep him occupied: he is among the Trump contingent referred to the Department of Justice for criminal charges by the House of Representatives' January 6th committee, due to his public accusations of election fraud in 2020.
