Nuzzi began by explaining that talking to Giuliani is a "delicate" balance of "optimism and patience."
In the past years, Giuliani has accidentally called an NBC reporter and left a voicemail outing his ask for cash for an overseas business. He also once texted Axios reporter Jonathan Swan a recording that left the reporter with more questions.
“I couldn’t make any sense of it or figure out how he managed to text me a recording inadvertently,” Swan said.
In another incident, he accidentally texted what seemed to be a password to Roger Sollenberger.
"On big news days in Washington, it can feel like everybody is texting with Giuliani at the same time — and sometimes it’s because we are," Nuzzi wrote. "Or we sure hope it’s Giuliani we’re talking to."
A White House reporter said that Giuliani seems to change his phone number randomly. "So, you never really know if you’re texting the right number.”
Nuzzi wrote that she has about half a dozen phone numbers for Giuliani, and she must text them all to find out which one he's actually using.
“He sometimes sends text messages that are clearly not meant for you,” the White House reporter said. “For example, he once sent me a picture of him smoking a cigar on a golf cart,” a second White House reporter told Nuzzi. “I’ve definitely woken up to a missed FaceTime call, which I can only hope was inadvertent.”
It's only a small selection of weird interactions with Giuliani.
Another reporter recalled when Giuliani blocked them after Christianné Allen became his communications director and answered his phone for the first time.
“I’ve found that the best way to get Giuliani to respond is to push his buttons a bit,” the reporter told Nuzzi. “Though it’s been a lot harder for me to reach him lately.”
There has been speculation that Giuliani is declining in mental and emotional health.
"The decline was first apparent on a national stage during the Republican Convention of 2008, when a sneering Giuliani berated then-candidate Barack Obama for his service as a community organizer in Chicago, a calling for activists who work to improve the lives of struggling people," wrote NBC News in a report. "Giuliani’s post-mayoral image was permanently emblazoned on the nation’s memory during the Republican Convention of 2016 when, his face distorted with anger, he came forward to sing the praises of Donald Trump as America’s new savior."
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough accused Giuliani of drinking too much.
“I may have a drink for dinner. I like to drink with cigars," he said in May 2018.
“The more this continues, the presidency as theater, you have to ask the question — are we being played by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani?” asked "Morning Joe" commentator Mike Barnicle.
Scarborough didn't think the White House was that smart. "Donald Trump said during the transition that Rudy Giuliani was losing it, that he was a couple of steps behind," he said.
A friend of the mayor said that they've never seen Giuliani take more than two drinks and defended him as "razor-sharp" as ever.
Nuzzi quoted Giuliani allies saying that people aren't accustomed to seeing the so-called "American Mayor" be so combative.
"I think the reality is people perceive a decline because they’re witnessing him being extremely aggressive, persistent, and vocal about a political issue that has polarized the country,” former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik told New York Magazine. “I think people just see his aggression as a decline. But I have to tell you, in sitting with him and going through these details, names, times, places, all the stuff that he has collected since last year; I can tell you he doesn’t miss a beat. There is no decline. It’s almost like he has reverted back to his prosecutorial mindset.”
When asked for comment, Giuliani ranted about fake news.
“Garbage your publication cannot be counted on to report fairly on this salacious stupidity … I am a high functioning human being able to outwork people half my age. Compared to Biden and Pelosi, I’m a phenom," Giuliani said.
Read the full Nuzzi piece at New York Magazine to read accounts of the shocking Giuliani text messages.
