In the fall of 1974, a young ambitious prosecutor was grilling a powerful US Congressman on trial for corruption. The prosecutor's cross examination was unforgiving. He had confronted the Congressman with checks from business interests that he had promoted and bombarded him relentlessly with tough questions. After a break, the Congressman threw in the towel and pled guilty. An amazing turn of the tables that handed the young prosecutor his first major triumph. The prosecutor's name, Rudy Giuliani. And it was the first of many headline making triumphs as he went on to serve as a top Justice Department Official, a mob-busting US Attorney, and of course as America's Mayor who guided NYC during its darkest hours and days in the aftermath of September 11th. What's endlessly fascinating about those early triumphs is that they were followed by one of the most spectacular falls from grace that any public figure has experienced in living memory. A man once widely revered, even Knighted by the Queen of England, has ended up as a nearly pathetic laughing stock with significant legal exposure thanks to a considerable degree to his role as consigliere to Donald Trump. It's a story masterfully told by veteran journalist Andrew Kirtzman in his new book, Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America's Mayor. We talk to Kirtzman about his new book and Giuliani's legacy.

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