Biden campaign calls on networks to stop airing Rudy Giuliani: ‘He will knowingly and willingly lie’

Joe Biden’s campaign has issued a scathing letter to the heads of major American news networks demanding they stop booking Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani for interviews, saying he will "knowingly and willingly lie in order to advance his own narrative".

Anita Dunn and Kate Bedingfield, two top aides to the former vice president, argued in the letter that Mr Giuliani “is not a public official, and holds no public office that would entitle him to opine on the nation’s airwaves.”

“We are writing today with grave concern that you continue to book Rudy Giuliani on your air to spread false, debunked conspiracy theories on behalf of Donald Trump,” read the letter, which was reportedly sent to all major network heads including the presidents of NBC, CBS News, CNN and more. “While you often fact check his statements in real time during your discussions, that is no longer enough.”

The former New York City mayor has alleged corruption on the part of the Biden family across several major news outlets, all the while failing to present any credible evidence against the former vice president, who currently leads in most national polls for the Democratic nomination.

Mr Trump continues to assert the unfounded claim that Ukraine was behind 2016 election interference rather than the Russians, as has been determined by the US intelligence community.

“By giving him your air time, you are allowing him to introduce increasingly unhinged, unfounded and desperate lies into the national conversation,” the letter continued.

The Biden campaign’s decision to send the letter to network heads — and even some prominent on-air hosts like Fox News’ Chris Wallace, CNN’s Jake Tapper and NBC’s Chuck Todd — was first reported by the Daily Beast.

Mr Trump’s own staff have expressed their concerns about the conspiracy theories pushed by the president and his personal attorney.

In an interview on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Thomas Bossert, Mr Trump’s first homeland security adviser, said he warned the president he was sharing “completely debunked” information about Ukraine before he called the country’s president and demanded he look into the unfounded allegations.

“I’m deeply disturbed by it,” Mr Bossert said on Sunday. “It’s not only a conspiracy theory. It is completely debunked.”

The Biden campaign’s letter goes on to demand that networks who continue to book Mr Giuliani should then provide “an equivalent amount of time” for a surrogate of the former vice president’s campaign.

Mr Giuliani shot back at the letter in a text message to the Daily Beast, saying it “sounds like the usual left wing censorship.”

“Everything I say is supported by such as today, affidavits and statements,” he said. “They are the ones who have covered up pay for play for at least 5 years.”