Rudy Giuliani has claimed that he was referring to HBO's Game of Thrones when he made his controversial "trial by combat" comments prior to the Capitol riots.
Donald Trump’s personal lawyer spoke alongside the outgoing President at the "Save America" rally in Washington, D.C. on January 6.
President Trump urged supporters at the rally to "walk down to the Capitol", telling the cheering crowd: "You have to show strength, and you have to be strong."
Prior to this, Giuliani made various unfounded claims about the 2020 Presidential Election, telling the crowd: "If we are wrong, we will be made fools of, but if we're right, a lot of them will go to jail. So let's have trial by combat."
After the rally, a mob of Trump supporters descended upon the US Capitol building, forcing politicians to barricade themselves inside, The Independent reports. The riot resulted in the deaths of five people, including USCP Officer Brian D. Sicknick.
However, Giuliani has now told reporter Brett Samuels of The Hill that his comment was not an explicit call to arms, but instead a reference to the hit HBO show Game of Thrones.
"I was referencing the kind of trial that took place for Tyrion in that very famous documentary about fictitious medieval England," Giuliani said to Samuels on Tuesday.
When asked if he was referring to Game of Thrones, Giuliani replied: "100 percent".
"When Tyrion, who is a very small man, is accused of murder. He didn't commit murder, he can't defend himself, and he hires a champion to defend him," Trump’s personal lawyer added, presumably implying that, in this instance, he is the "champion".
He then added that he was not referring to a physical trial, but a "trial between machines".
"In fact, you'll see it comes up exactly in the context of I challenge them to allow us to examine their machines," he added.
These machines are believed to be the voting machines of Dominion Voting Systems, which Trump has falsely claimed were rigged against him during the presidential election.
"And then I say the consequences of the trial by combat will be if they prove that we're wrong - we'll be disgraced. If we prove that they're wrong, they go to jail," he added.
Giuliani denied that his "trial by combat" was encouraging the crowd to be violent, stating: "It incited no violent response from the crowd."
He added: "None. The crowd didn't jump up saying, 'Lock him up, throw him to jail, go to hell.' I've had speeches where people jump up and say, 'lock him up.' It was not an emotional - it was not an emotion-inspiring part of the speech."