Rudy Giuliani has been banned from making appearances on Fox News for at least three months, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The former New York City mayor and a past lawyer for former President Donald Trump was reportedly informed of his temporary banishment from the conservative news network on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to Politico.
The ban extends to Giuliani's son, Andrew Giuliani, who has requested to appear on the network multiple times, allegedly voicing frustration over rival GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin's frequent appearances on the channel, the report added.
The Fox News spokesperson denied there is a ban on Andrew Giuliani, citing multiple appearances on the network since he announced his campaign for governor of New York on May 18. The Washington Examiner found that Andrew Giuliani made at least two on-air appearances on Fox News in late May and was most recently featured in an online story for the network on Sept. 10.
"I could not have been more disappointed with the Fox coverage on the 20th anniversary of September 11," Bernie Kerik, Giuliani's former police commissioner who has repeated similar election fraud allegations stoked by Trump and the attorney, told the outlet. "Then they chose to intentionally ignore Mayor Giuliani who was, and who according to their own coverage for the last two decades was America's hero on the day and in the aftermath of the attack. Regardless of reasoning, I think this was another demonstration of Fox's cowering to the far left."
Trump has been a vocal critic of Fox News since the November election, lobbing accusations that the network is harboring a left-wing bias due to the acknowledgment of President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory, as well as some pushback the network has given to the former president's claims of election fraud. Trump has stood by some network personalities, such as Sean Hannity, making exclusive appearances during the host's prime-time show.
Giuliani attracted lawsuits for his claims about widespread voter fraud, charges he has frequently repeated in news interviews without offering evidence. In January, Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani in January, seeking more than $1.3 billion in damages for what the voting machine company called the former New York City mayor's "viral disinformation campaign" against them in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
The former mayor called the lawsuit "another act of intimidation by the hate-filled left-wing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech, as well as the ability of lawyers to defend their clients vigorously" and signaled he may file a countersuit.