Trump advisor said 'I want to f---ing kill myself' when the president tapped him to lead election challenges, according to new book

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Trump advisor said 'I want to f---ing kill myself' when the president tapped him to lead election challenges, according to new book
Trump and his advisor, David Bossie in May 2015. AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt, File
  • Trump aide David Bossie was "confused" and "appalled" when Trump tapped him to lead election challenges, a new book said.
  • "I don't know if congratulations or condolences are in order," a campaign aide said to Bossie.
  • "I want to f---ing kill myself," Bossie, who is not a lawyer, reportedly replied.
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A longtime advisor to former President Donald Trump was less than enthused when Trump tapped him last year to lead a spate of lawsuits challenging the 2020 election results, according to a new book by author Michael Wolff.

After mulling over who he wanted to spearhead the legal challenges, Trump finally settled on David Bossie, a 2016 campaign aide turned informal advisor. But when the president told Bossie - who had jockeyed for a position in the White House after the 2016 campaign and been turned down - Bossie was unpleasantly surprised, Wolff wrote.

For one, he didn't have a law degree and was not a practicing lawyer.

"A willing Trump soldier and always ready to please the boss, even Bossie was confused, or appalled, by his sudden elevation," the book said.

"I don't know if congratulations or condolences are in order," one campaign aide wrote to Bossie after Trump told him to lead the election lawsuits, according to Wolff.

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"I want to f---ing kill myself," Bossie replied.

Trump settled on Bossie after considering a slew of other people.

The president didn't want to rely on his "weary" and "skeptical" campaign leaders and legal team, the book said, adding that Trump "was not yet desperate enough or crazy enough to put Rudy in charge."

Nevertheless, the former New York mayor did end up being the public face of Trump's failed election crusade, in part because Bossie tested positive for COVID-19 on November 8, shortly after being promoted to head up Trump's lawsuits.

Some campaign staffers joked and speculated that Bossie's diagnosis was a "convenient one," Wolff wrote.

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"How did you get so lucky?" one aide asked him.

"F--- you," Bossie replied, according to the book.

Giuliani, meanwhile, approached his new role as Trump's lead election lawyer with gusto.

He filed dozens of lawsuits in battleground states across the country seeking to nullify Joe Biden's victory in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia. All of the cases were tossed out. He testified at "hearings" organized by Republican-controlled state legislatures, where he made broad and unspecified claims about dead people voting and rigged election machines.

At one news conference that took place at a landscaping business located in between a sex shop and a crematorium, he invited a convicted sex offender to speak about purported vote-counting mishaps in Philadelphia. In another, he quoted "My Cousin Vinny" to support his claims about election fraud while black liquid trickled down his face.

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His public crusade on Trump's behalf deeply frustrated the former president's advisors, according to Wolff's book, who thought Giuliani was "always buzzed" and on the brink of senility. Trump himself often criticized Giuliani, the book said, telling one caller that the former New York mayor was frequently drunk, a loose cannon, and often said things that weren't true.

Wolff's previous reporting about the Trump White House drew scrutiny after journalists and fact-checkers found that some of the details in his first book about the administration didn't add up.

He defended the book, however, and said he stood by his reporting. He also said "Landslide" featured only episodes that Trump's staff had confirmed or that were backed up by multiple sources.

Giuliani's longtime assistant did not respond to Insider's request for comment about Wolff's claims, and texts to multiple numbers associated with him went unanswered.

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