‘He’s Had Great Challenges’: Giuliani Holds 80th Birthday Amid Many Woes

Consider this Midtown split screen.

Donald J. Trump on Friday appeared in the lobby of the gilded Fifth Avenue tower that bears his name to crow about the affection and campaign cash that have poured in since his conviction on 34 felonies.

A few blocks away, at an Italian restaurant on East 56th Street, his former lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was having a party for his 80th birthday. There was little to celebrate. Mr. Giuliani’s run-ins with the law have left his life and finances in tatters.

As he left a previous party celebrating the same birthday, he was served notice of his indictment in an Arizona election-interference case. He has also been indicted in Georgia in connection to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr. Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy and owes two Georgia women a $148 million judgment from a defamation case. He is relying on a 9/11 charity as one of his last financial lifelines. Mr. Trump has done little to help with his legal bills.

Earlier that very day, a board that oversees lawyer discipline in Washington recommended that Mr. Giuliani be disbarred.

A little after 6 p.m., he stepped out of a Dodge Durango, helped along by a security detail, and into the restaurant, Amata, a white table-clothed, red-sauce joint owned by the brother-in-law of Anthony Carbonetti, the former mayor’s chief of staff at City Hall, who attended the party.