Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) has recalled a “strange” voicemail that Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer left on his phone on Jan. 6, 2021, apparently while trying to reach a different Republican senator.
Sullivan was asked about the incident by CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” on Tuesday. The details were mentioned in the final report by the House select committee investigating the US Capitol riots, which was released in December. The senator’s office said Giuliani’s wrong call was “incoherent” and “talked about delaying the certification” of the 2020 election results.
“It was a phone call from someone, I don’t know who, they messaged me. I listened to the message a few days later,” Sullivan recalled on CNN. “Ironically, Jake, it was right for the wrong senator. Rudy Giuliani had the wrong phone number.
“I have never met,” he continued. “I hardly understand what he’s talking about.”
“It’s quite strange,” he added.
Sullivan was not among the eight Republican senators who voted to cancel the election after President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
Giuliani, who served as Trump’s personal attorney at the time, led Trump’s legal efforts to change the results of the presidential election in his favor. He told the committee Jan. 6 that he was “probably calling to see what we can do … about the vote.”
According to reports, Giuliani called several Republican lawmakers in addition to Sullivan, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Mike Lee (Utah), Lindsey Graham (SC) and Ted Cruz (Texas).
Giuliani left an accidental voicemail on Lee’s phone. The message, apparently intended for Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), said: “We need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow down so we can ask this legislature to get more information for you,” referring. to the electoral count of the country that has close results.