Rudy Giuliani is having phone trouble again — and this time, it’s sad.
The former New York mayor forgot to hang up on a Daily News reporter Wednesday and, thinking he was off the line, started trash-talking ex-Gov. George Pataki while complaining he only has “five friends left.”
Giuliani — who has become infamous for butt-dialing journalists — made the mopey confession to someone named “Tony” after this reporter reached out about Pataki’s forthcoming book, which alleges the ex-Hizzoner privately asked the former governor to call off the city’s 2001 mayoral election so he could remain in office in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
“There were people who wanted me to do it,” Giuliani told The News, still aware he was on the phone. “I thought about it for two days, but I never asked him to do it. I never made the decision to do it.”
Then, Giuliani said he had to hang up because he was about to board a flight. “I’m heading to LA, I’m heading to LA,” he said.
But Giuliani never hung up.
“He’s trying to sell a book,” Giuliani told Tony while this reporter stayed on the line. “Even if we would have had that conversation, it would have been privileged between a mayor and a governor … He’s an honorable guy. I can’t believe he would do that. I just keep getting disappointed. I got about five friends left.”
Giuliani, who became political poison in some of his old Big Apple circles after taking on the job as President Trump’s personal lawyer, accused Pataki of making him “sound like a power-hungry politician.”
“I’m so shocked,” Giuliani said.
Eventually, the ex-mayor hung up after stating that the conversation Pataki recalls in his book “didn’t take place.”
Pataki, who never ended up cancelling the 2001 election, “stands by” his allegation, said spokesman David Catalfamo.
About 15 minutes after the first conversation, Giuliani called again, seemingly unaware he had already spoken to this reporter.
“The governor is wrong,” Giuliani said. “I’m very disappointed that George would write something like that.”
Giuliani also charged Pataki was likely making up the 2001 chat because his book is boring.
“I know book publishing, and this is exactly what they do: They have you sensationalize, especially if your book isn’t good,” he said.
The former mayor added, “No one has honor anymore.”
