Joe Biden's presidential campaign demanded on Sunday that news networks stop booking Rudy Giuliani for interviews, handing President Donald Trump and his allies a new talking point against the former vice president.
Biden's campaign sent a letter to executives and anchors at ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC, according to the New York Times, which first obtained the letter. In it, Biden campaign officials Anita Dunn and Kate Bedingfield call interviews with Giuliani "a disservice to journalism."
"We are writing today with grave concern that you continue to book Rudy Giuliani on your air to spread false, debunked conspiracy theories on behalf of Donald Trump," the letter begins. "While you often fact check his statements in real time during your discussions, that is no longer enough. By giving him your air time, you are allowing him to introduce increasingly unhinged, unfounded and desperate lies into the national conversation."
"We write to demand that in service to the facts, you no longer book Rudy Giuliani, a surrogate for Donald Trump who has demonstrated that he will knowingly and willingly lie in order to advance his own narrative," it says.
The demand fits into Trump's narrative of a biased media working to defeat him and neglecting to investigate candidates on the left. Both his campaign and Giuliani himself quickly said the demand shows Biden has something to hide regarding Ukraine.
Giuliani, interviewed Sunday by ABC's George Stephanopoulos, said the demand from Biden shows he is worried about information the former New York City mayor is trying to uncover on Ukraine.
"The Bidens are clearly rattled by the affidavit showing there is a named accuser and not an anonymous source, who is ready to testify!" Giuliani tweeted Sunday, along with an image of the Biden campaign letter.
"Think of the Biden arrogance and entitlement to protection," he added. "They believe they own the media and they are demanding that they silence me. They know I have incriminating facts, not hearsay, because they know what they did in selling Joe's office to a Ukrainian crook."
Late Sunday, Giuliani posted a clip of himself discussing alleged wrongdoing by Biden in Ukraine and pointed to it as the reason "the Bidens are doing all they can to silence me." The clip, which can be viewed below, is now pinned to the top of his Twitter profile.
The Bidens are doing all they can to silence me, this is why! pic.twitter.com/Qp1MOgKNuD
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) September 30, 2019
On Monday morning, Trump jumped in and said the media "wants to stay as far away as possible" from investigating Biden.
"The Fake News Media wants to stay as far away as possible from the Ukraine and China deals made by the Bidens," Trump tweeted. "A Corrupt Media is so bad for our Country! In actuality, the Media may be even more Corrupt than the Bidens, which is hard to do!"
He also posted a lengthy clip of Giuliani's interview with Stephanopoulos.
Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager, also chose to highlight the Biden campaign's demand of the news networks.
"Can we request the removal of Democrats on TV that push hoaxes?" Parscale quipped. "Wait, but then who would do the interviews?"
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the demand. Biden himself hasn't appeared on a Sunday show in more than 1,000 days.