Hey, isn’t that … former New York mayor and GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani hanging out near the White House on the night of the state dinner?
A source spotted Giuliani, 73, at Shelly’s Back Room on Tuesday night sitting solo and enjoying a smoke at one of the District’s few tobacco-lover hot spots. Giuliani, an avid smoker who has appeared on the cover of Cigar Aficionado and who spoke at the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers trade show last summer, has been spotted in several Manhattan cigar bars since announcing his third divorce.
The timing of the Giuliani sighting is particularly interesting, because the state dinner, to which he clearly wasn’t invited, was happening at the very same moment. Giuliani, an early Trump supporter whose name had been on the shortlist for secretary of state last year, joined the president’s personal legal team last week. Giuliani met face-to-face with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III earlier on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a presidential interview. Clearly, Giuliani’s visit to the District was about business, and not black tie.