Giuliani set Pence up as Trump's fall guy to cover for his lawsuits getting laughed out of court: book

As the White House emptied when President Donald Trump lost, Michael Wolff described it as a void where overt crackpots like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were able to totally influence his thinking.

In his new book, Landslide, Wolff describes Giuliani as looking for a scapegoat to cover for the fact that he lost every lawsuit he attempted for Trump. He fixed his eyes on Vice President Mike Pence.

"Giuliani had failed in every single instance of legal strategy and positioning in the election challenge and had now put all his eggs into the Pence basket," wrote Wolff. "It might have seemed that he was trying to set Pence up to take the blame for what he himself had so abjectly failed to accomplish. To the president, Rudy was still offering good odds that the vice president would come through. To others, Giuliani was now saying that Pence just didn't have the balls to do what could be done."

It was the morning of Jan. 6 and Giuliani was leaving his hotel a little before 10 a.m. He and his entourage ran into Roger Stone in the lobby of Willard Hotel.

"Stone was asked if he was going to the rally, but he said he hadn't been invited," wrote Wolff, a contrast to what Stone's aide has said since then. "He didn't even know who had organized it, he said. The four men were let out of their car and had to walk across the grass to the Ellipse. They were already freezing by the time Giuliani went on, at about 10:50."

"It is perfectly appropriate given the questionable constitutionality of the Election Counting Act of 1887 that the vice president can cast it aside, and he can do what a president called Jefferson did when he was vice president. He can decide on the validity of these crooked ballots, or he can send it back to the legislators, give them five to ten days to finally finish the work," Giuliani told the audience.

Pence then became the target for Trump fans as they marched with anger toward the Capitol. The rioters broke through doors and windows while others erected a platform to hang people. Chants of "Hang Mike Pence," echoed through the stands already set for the upcoming inauguration.

Wolff's book is now available in bookstores.