Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) has recalled the “bizarre” voicemail that disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani 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 detail was mentioned in the final report by the House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot, which was released in December. The senator’s office said at the time that Giuliani’s misdirected call was “incoherent” and “said something about delaying the certification” of the 2020 election results.
“This was a phone call from somebody, I didn’t even know who it was, they left a message. I listened to the message a few days later,” Sullivan recalled on CNN. “Ironically, Jake, it was actually for the wrong senator. Rudy Giuliani had the wrong phone number.”
“I’ve never met him,” he continued. “I barely even understood what he was saying.”
“It was quite bizarre,” he added.
Sullivan was not among the eight Republican senators who voted to overturn the election after supporters of then-President Donald Trump laid siege to the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s win.
Giuliani, who was serving as Trump’s personal attorney at the time, led Trump’s legal efforts to change the presidential election result in his favor. He told the Jan. 6 committee he was “probably calling to see if anything could be done ... about the vote.”
According to the report, Giuliani called several Republican lawmakers in addition to Sullivan, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Mike Lee (Utah), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Ted Cruz (Texas).
Giuliani left a different 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 it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” referring to the electoral count from states that had close results.