‘He Always Had a Piece of This in Him’: Maggie Haberman Says She’s ‘Not Surprised’ by Giuliani’s Antics During Defamation Trial

CNN political analyst and New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman said she was “not surprised” by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s antics following his defamation trial verdict on Friday as he has “always had a piece of this in him.”

After CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked Haberman, “What do you make of Giuliani facing this resounding punishment, yet still being defiant, still repeating his baseless lies?” she replied:

I think that he is very much echoing his former client, Wolf, and he is– and he always had a piece of this in him when he was mayor and when I was covering him in his second term. He would never admit that he was wrong about something, he would never back down, and so I’m not surprised that this is what he is doing. But he is facing very real-world circumstances here and very real-world consequences of what he has said.

Haberman added that while Giuliani “has a long habit of targeting people and attacking them,” the defamation case was “something fundamentally different, and the world got to hear, the jury got to hear these women talk about having their lives ruined.”

She concluded, “He is, you know, acting somewhat remorseful that they faced attacks that they did, but distancing himself from them, and I just don’t see how that’s going to be a sustainable stance, but he’s going to try for a while.”

Giuliani was ordered to pay two Georgia election workers $148 million on Friday after he falsely accused them of engaging in fraudulent activity during the 2020 election.

Following the ruling, Giuliani told reporters, “I have no doubt that my comments were made and they were supportable and are supportable today. I just did not have an opportunity to present the evidence that we offered.”

Watch above via CNN.