Giuliani has been exiled from Trumpworld as he struggles to raise money for legal costs: 'This will end badly for Rudy'

• Rudy Giuliani is on the outs with Trumpworld as he faces a mountain of legal and financial problems.

• Trump has thrown him a bone with some statements of support but refuses to help cover legal costs.

• Michael Cohen said "this is the Trump modus operandi" and predicted things will end "badly for Rudy."

• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Rudy Giuliani has arguably been former President Donald Trump's most loyal disciple since Trump launched his first presidential campaign in 2015. He fought at Trump's side through a slew of lawsuits and federal and state criminal investigations, two impeachments, a failed reelection campaign, and a deadly Capitol insurrection.

But now, as Giuliani battles a mountain of legal problems of his own, rising financial issues, and the threat of disbarment, the former president is nowhere to be found.

The Daily Beast reported on Monday that Trump has outright ignored Giuliani's requests for assistance over the last few months, and that the former president and his allies have refused to even acknowledge the existence of legal defense funds created to offset some of Giuliani's financial costs.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and longtime fixer who was shunned by the president when he landed in federal investigators' crosshairs, told Insider he wasn't surprised by Giuliani's predicament.

"This is the Trump modus operandi," Cohen said. "I predicted that this would happen and mockingly welcomed Rudy to the under the bus club. It might be time for Rudy to unleash some of the insurance he claimed to have months ago on Trump and others to avoid a lengthy jail sentence."

Cohen, who is currently serving out a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to an array of felonies, was referring to Giuliani's remark in late 2019 that he had "insurance" in case Trump turned on him.

When The Guardian asked the former New York mayor in a phone call if he was concerned Trump would throw him under the bus amid an impeachment inquiry into Trump's Ukraine dealings, Giuliani responded: "I'm not, but I do have very, very good insurance, so if he does, all my hospital bills will be paid."

Giuliani's lawyer Robert Costello, who was also on the call, interjected: "He's joking."

The former New York mayor's exile from Trumpworld comes as he faces:

• A federal criminal investigation into whether he broke foreign lobbying laws via his Ukraine dealings;

• A federal criminal investigation into if he illegally lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Turkey;

• The temporary suspension of his law license in New York and Washington, DC, because of his lies about the 2020 election;

• A defamation suit from the election tech company Dominion Voting Systems accusing Giuliani of carrying out a "viral disinformation campaign";

• A possible criminal probe in Arizona over his and Trump's efforts to subvert the state's election results.

Giuliani has not been charged with a crime and texts to multiple numbers associated with him went unanswered. His longtime assistant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In June, the longtime Giuliani ally and former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik set up a "Rudy Giuliani Legal Defense Fund" on the website Fundly. But the donation page disappeared just a few weeks later after raising less than $10,000 out of its $5 million goal. A webpage for the "Rudy Giuliani Freedom Fund," which Kerik also created, still exists, though it's unclear how much it's raised.

In addition to his legal and financial problems, Giuliani is also facing a deepening PR crisis.

Several books that came out this summer revealed that senior Trump administration figures and allies thought Giuliani's election crusade was a "clown show," "a joke," and a "national embarrassment"; that Giuliani was intentionally given the wrong time for a debate prep session; that an election fraud hotline he set up was flooded with dick pics and animal porn; that Trump aides believed Giuliani was always drunk and on the verge of senility; and that Trump himself frequently belittled Giuliani and called him "pathetic."

In the wake of Giuliani's legal and PR issues, Trump has done little to materially defend his loyal sidekick. He called the FBI raids on Giuliani "very unfair" in a Fox News interview in April, and he put out a short statement in June praising Giuliani as a "great American patriot" after his New York law license was suspended.

Last week, he invited Giuliani onstage during a New York Republican fundraiser and said, "We love Rudy," before giving Giuliani a platform to recycle false claims about the election.

As far as helping his former lawyer with his financial issues, Trump hasn't made a peep. According to The New York Times, Giuliani's rumored girlfriend Maria Ryan sent an email to the Trump campaign asking that Giuliani be paid $20,000 a day for his election-related efforts.

But The Guardian reported in January that Trump was refusing to pay Giuliani's fees because the former mayor failed to get the 2020 election overturned. The author Michael Wolff wrote in his book that Trump is "annoyed that he tried to get paid for his election challenge work."

Cohen told Insider that Trump's approach to dealing with his former lawyer is predictable, given that he did the same thing when Cohen was under federal investigative scrutiny in 2017 and 2018.

"I just know Trump. I was around him so much, and what I understand is he does not pay legal bills, so let's not pretend for a second that he does," he said. "I've gone through this, so I know that Donald is keeping Rudy close by, and he's saying all the right things, but when Rudy started charging the campaign for legal fees, the first thing I did was I broke out laughing."

Cohen added that in Giuliani's case, "not only is Trump not going to do anything for you, but at this juncture, there's nothing he can do for you."

Asked how he sees the saga playing out, Cohen responded, "This will end badly for Rudy."

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