Rudy Giuliani explains calling for 'trial by combat' to rally crowd ahead of Capitol attack

Rudy Giuliani has spoken out to explain what he meant when he suggested "let's have trial by combat" during a massive rally of Trump supporters before some in the crowd stormed the U.S. Capitol building in a deadly attack on Jan. 6, as Congress met to certify the Electoral College count for President-elect Joe Biden.

What are the details?

Giuliani—who has battled on behalf of the Trump campaign since the general election for courts and state legislatures to overturn their election results—told the crowd who gathered in support of President Donald Trump:

"Over the next ten days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, ballots that are fraudulent, and if we're wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we're right, a lot of them will go to jail. So, let's have trial by combat. I'm willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation, on the fact that we're going to find criminality there."

'Let's have trial by combat!' Rudy Giuliani riles up crowd before riotwww.youtube.com

Following the storming of the Capitol that left at least five people dead, Giuliani, President Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr. were all criticized for their remarks beforehand and accused of inciting the violence, and the president was impeached a second time by the House for that charge.

Giuliani told The Hill this week that his remarks were misinterpreted, and suggested he was referencing a scene from the series "Game of Thrones" when he made the statement.

"I was referring to the kind of trial that took place for Tyrion in that very famous documentary about fictitious medieval England," the former mayor of New York City told reporter Brett Samuels. "When Tyrion, who is a very small man, is accused of murder. He didn't commit murder, he can't defend himself, and he hires a champion to defend him."

After affirming that he was talking about "Game of Thrones," Giuliani explained, "I'm talking about trial between machines. In fact, you'll see it comes up exactly in the context of I challenge them to allow us to examine their machines. And then I say the consequences of the trial by combat will be if they prove that we're wrong, we'll be exceedingly embarrassed, we'll be disgraced. If we prove they're wrong, they go to jail."

Giuliani went on to say:

"So, I explain it in proper context. It incited no violent response from the crowd. None. The crowd didn't jump up saying 'lock him up, throw him in jail, go to hell.' I've had speeches where people jump up and say, 'lock him up.' It was not an emotional—it was not an emotion-inspiring part of the speech. So, to try to take it out of context and use it is typical of the crooked left and press."