Ex-Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson claims Rudy Giuliani groped her on January 6

Since Trump left office, Giuliani, 79, has landed in extraordinary legal and financial trouble. Like Trump, Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal racketeering and conspiracy charges in Georgia, over attempted election subversion. Giuliani was also found liable for defamation of two Georgia election workers. The Washington DC Bar Association has recommended he be disbarred.

Struggling to pay his legal expenses, his luxury New York apartment up for sale, and Giuliani also faces a $1.3m lawsuit from his own lawyer, seeking unpaid fees, and a $10m suit from a former personal assistant. In that suit, Giuliani is accused of offences including abuse of power, wage theft, sexual assault and harassment.

Giuliani did make his name as a crusading prosecutor, using racketeering statutes to take on organised crime. After that he was a hardline, law-and-order New York mayor, cracking down on crime in ways that sometimes provoked protest on the political left.

The irony of such a figure now facing criminal charges including racketeering arising from his work for Trump has been widely remarked.