Consider this Midtown split screen.
Donald J. Trump appeared in the lobby of the gilded Fifth Avenue building that bears his name on Friday to boast about the love and campaign contributions he has received since his conviction on 34 felony counts.
A few blocks away, at an Italian restaurant on East 56th Street, his former lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was having an 80th birthday party. There was little to celebrate. Mr. Giuliani's repeated run-ins with the law had left him in ruins, both financially and financially.
On his way home from the same birthday party, he was informed that he had been indicted in an election interference case in Arizona. He also faces charges in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Mr. Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy and is fighting a $148 million defamation lawsuit against two Georgia women. He has turned to 9/11 charities as one of his last financial anchors. Mr. Trump has provided little financial support for his legal costs.
That very same day, a Washington lawyers' disciplinary committee recommended that Giuliani be stripped of his law license.
Shortly after 6 p.m., he was helped out of a Dodge Durango by security guards and entered Amata, a restaurant with white tablecloths and red sauce owned by the brother-in-law of Anthony Carbonetti, the former mayoral chief of staff at City Hall who was attending the party.
Standing outside and wearing a bow tie, Giuliani's lawyer, Barry Cummins, spoke of his beleaguered client's state of mind: “He's been through great challenges, and I think it's amazing that he's been able to keep his sanity through all of this, given the pressure he's been under.”
Giuliani has been disowned by many friends and allies, most recently by John Catsimatidis, the Republican billionaire owner of WABC radio, who banned him from the station after he refused to stop making false statements about the 2020 election. The spat between the two old friends played out in the New York Post.
“We've tried to get people to come forward to attest to his character, but a lot of people have let us down and he's let them down,” Cummins said.
Next to Cummins, Arthur Aidala, a lawyer who specializes in defending tabloid thugs, stood at dusk wearing a Panama hat. (“It protects my bald head from the sun,” he said.)
“Anyone who thinks Giuliani lacks legal acumen is very wrong,” Aidala said. “He has very strong legal acumen. We are representing Mayor Giuliani in his lawsuit in Georgia.”
Was there anyone at the party other than the lawyers? “The waiters,” said Mr. Cummins.
Aidala happened to be in the lower Manhattan court where Trump was on trial. He is the lawyer for Harvey Weinstein, who appeared for a procedural hearing on Wednesday. Like many at the birthday party, Aidala is unhappy with Trump's conviction for concealing hush money paid to porn stars.
“I don't think anybody else should be prosecuted in the same way that President Trump was prosecuted in this case,” he said. “And that's not because I'm a fan of President Trump's politics, it's because I'm a fan of the criminal justice system and I believe that people who commit real crimes against real New Yorkers should be prosecuted.”
Meatballs and penne with vodka were served to a crowd that included Mr. Giuliani's son Andrew, daughter Caroline, Bernard B. Kerik, Mr. Giuliani's former New York City police commissioner who pleaded guilty to eight felonies, and Rudy Washington, Mr. Giuliani's former deputy mayor. Also in attendance were several right-wing media figures, including former Breitbart News editor Raheem Kassam and New York Post columnist Miranda Devine.
Mr. Giuliani's security officer, Michael Ragusa of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, stood guard by the door with a large pepper spray canister holstered on his leg, blocking entry. Scott LoBaid, a Trump-loving artist from Staten Island who regularly goes out and smokes Marlboro Lights, said he and Mr. Giuliani had recently become “best friends.”
“He's one of those people who's always been persecuted. I understand that feeling because I've always been persecuted for being a conservative artist. So I like hanging out with those kinds of people.”
A van with an “ULTRA MAGA” sticker was parked on the corner of the block. It belonged to a party-goer who called himself “Joe the Box,” the owner of a Suffolk County warehouse that sells Trump-themed merchandise, known as America's First Warehouse. The man, walking in front of the restaurant, stopped when his dog tried to urinate, yanked the dog's leash and quickly walked away.
Inside, a large flat screen on a stand was wheeled up to Mr. Giuliani's table, where he sat cross-legged and watched intently as the former president's birthday message was played for everyone to see, according to a recording later provided to The New York Times by a guest.
In the video, Trump is seen standing with a small crowd of what appear to be his supporters.
“When they heard I was trying to give you a little birthday present, they said, 'Can we stay here? Because we love Rudy Giuliani!'”
Partiers inside the restaurant cheered. “Rudy, you're a special guy. We love you,” Trump continued. “Just keep fighting. There's no one like you.”
Mr. Giuliani's face lit up. The video started playing again.