Alaska Sen. Sullivan says Giuliani tried to call him twice before election certification vote, left 'incoherent' messages he says were intended for another senator

Dec. 24—march, pandemic, covid, international relations

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Sen. Dan Sullivan's office.

WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani placed two calls to Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, before Congress voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to the House Jan. 6 committee's final report.

But an email from Sullivan's office Friday said Sullivan and Giuliani never spoke, adding that Sullivan "is fairly confident that he has never met Giuliani in his entire life, and has certainly not spoken with him at any time in the last several years, particularly during the events in question."

"The Senator received two phone calls from a number he did not recognize on January 6th," Amanda Coyne with Sullivan's office said in an email. "The senator did not recognize the phone number and did not pick up the calls."

"Because of the chaos that ensued on January 6th, it took at least two additional days for Sen. Sullivan to even listen to the messages that were left on his phone by this unknown number," Coyne said. "When he was able to listen, he realized they were from Giuliani. Giuliani actually had the wrong number, as the message made clear the calls were intended for another Senator, not Sen. Sullivan."

Sullivan is still not sure how Giuliani got his number, Coyne said, "given that they have never spoken,"

"Giuliani's incoherent voice message said something about delaying the certification," Coyne said.

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The House report describes phone calls made by Giuliani — personal attorney to President Donald Trump at the time — to several members of Congress on the evening of Jan. 6, seeking to delay certifying President Joe Biden's win after supporters of Trump had stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Giuliani told the Jan. 6 committee that "I was probably calling to see if any — if anything could be done ... About the vote — the vote."

The report, which was released Thursday night, says that Giuliani "had two calls" with Sullivan over the course of the evening. Coyne said they never spoke, and faulted the Jan. 6 committee for not "doing its own due diligence by ever reaching out to Sen. Sullivan asking about these calls."

[House Jan. 6 panel unveils final report on insurrection, describing Trump 'conspiracy' to overturn election]

Giuliani's calls to Sullivan's phone have not previously been made public. Sullivan was not among the Republican senators who raised objections during the certification proceedings.

According to the House committee's report, after speaking with Trump for nearly 12 minutes at 5:07 p.m. on Jan. 6, Giuliani then called a handful of Republican members of Congress. In addition to Sullivan, Giuliani called Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Lee of Utah, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, along with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

The report says, "We know definitively what Giuliani was up to because he left a voice message for Senator (Tommy) Tuberville inadvertently on Senator Lee's phone — recording his request."

In the message, the report says, Giuliani told Tuberville he wanted "you, our Republican friends to try to just slow it down," referring to the electoral count. He suggested a strategy to "object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow — ideally until the end of tomorrow."

"So if you could object to every State and, along with a congressman, get a hearing for every State, I know we would delay you a lot, but it would give us the opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote," the message said, according to the committee's report.

[Key findings from the Jan. 6 committee's final report]

The report says Giuliani initially would not tell the committee about the nature of the calls, citing attorney-client privilege, though none of the members of Congress were his clients.

The details about Giuliani's calls placed to members of Congress come as part of an 814-page report detailing the Jan. 6 committee's findings. Earlier this week, the committee concluded with four criminal referrals for former President Trump to the Justice Department: inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and obstruction of an official proceeding.

Sullivan on Jan. 6 condemned the insurrection at the Capitol in a tweet, calling it "disgraceful" and "a sad day in American history."

After Giuliani's calls to members of Congress that day, Sullivan released a longer statement, which included him saying the "orderly transition of power" is "one of the most sacred hallmarks of our great constitutional republic."