Rudy Giuliani Loses His Lawyers, and His Cool, in Court

Rudolph W. Giuliani was not having a good day, and it showed.

The former New York City mayor was in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to discuss his continuing failure to give up nearly $11 million worth of personal assets. The forfeiture was meant as a down payment on the $148 million Mr. Giuliani owes to two Georgia election workers for defaming them by claiming, without evidence, that they had helped to steal the 2020 presidential election.

But first, Judge Lewis Liman allowed Mr. Giuliani’s lawyers to withdraw from the case. They had requested to be removed two weeks ago, citing an unspecified “professional ethics” concern.

“I’m sorry it came to this,” Kenneth Caruso, one of Mr. Giuliani’s lawyers, said before he and his co-counsel left the hearing.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Caruso said that there had been “a difference of opinion” with Mr. Giuliani but they wished his new counsel “every success.”

The focus then shifted to Mr. Giuliani’s new lawyer, Joseph M. Cammarata, a former police officer. The men forged a relationship after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when Mr. Cammarata’s brother, a firefighter, was killed.

Mr. Cammarata, who has been involved in the case for just over a week, asked that Mr. Giuliani’s trial, which is scheduled for Jan. 16, be delayed to determine whether the former mayor could keep his condominium in Florida and several custom-made Yankees World Series rings.