CNN host Jake Tapper joked on Tuesday that he’s retained Rudy Giuliani to look into fraud in the “Sexiest Man Alive” election.
During an appearance on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show,” DeGeneres opined that Tapper should have been included in People magazine’s “sexiest man” issue. She pointed out that Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, was included.
“Look, here’s the thing, Ellen. That election to get in the ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ was riddled with fraud,” Tapper jokingly said. “And I have retained an attorney, I don’t know if you know him, his name is Rudy Giuliani.”
“I have retained him for $20,000 a day, which was his asking price, and he is going to be looking into the fraud,” Tapper continued. “Apparently there was some Venezuelan software that was used to change the votes in this. And I won — I mean, I am the sexiest man alive, I did win.”
President Trump tapped Giuliani to oversee his reelection campaign’s legal challenges in several battleground states to contest the 2020 election results earlier this month, and his association with Trump has since come under scrutiny by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Trump and close allies have continually alleged that mail-in ballots, largely in use in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, have lead to widespread voter fraud that has impacted 2020 election results.
Giuliani hosted a combative press conference with other lawyers at the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters last week, in which he made unsubstantiated claims about election fraud and described a widespread effort to deny the president reelection that included glitches in election equipment.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) called the press conference a “train wreck” while Christopher Krebs, the top federal cybersecurity official who was fired by Trump last week, called the presser “the most dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of television in America history.”
The New York Times reported last week that the president’s personal lawyer asked the campaign for $20,000 per day for his legal services, which Giuliani has denied.
People magazine issued its top honor of sexiest man alive to actor Michael B. Jordan, but also named MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki on its list, citing his coverage of the 2020 election.