During an interview this past Tuesday, former Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell that the indictment stemming from the 2020 election is Donald Trump's most important legal case.

Yet in a sign that the threads holding it together may be about to snap, Special Counsel Jack Smith has spent a lot of time focusing on Rudy Giuliani's alleged alcohol consumption.

Witnesses asked about Giuliani's drinking

According to Rolling Stone contributors Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley, staff in Smith's office have asked witnesses "how seemingly intoxicated Giuliani was" following the 2020 election.

The pair also cited unnamed sources as saying members of Smith's team asked "if Trump had ever gossiped with them about Giuliani’s drinking habits."

What's more, witnesses were also asked "if Trump had ever claimed Giuliani’s drinking impacted his decision making or judgment."

Another point of interest is whether "the then-president was warned, including after Election Night 2020, about Giuliani's allegedly excessive drinking."

Alcohol could undermine one of Trump's potential defenses

Mitchell Epner formerly served as Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and told Rolling Stone that the questions concerns a defense argument that is likely to appear at trial.

Specifically, the contention that Trump was simply relying on the advice of legal counsel when it came to making decisions following the election.

"In order to rely upon an advice of counsel defense, the defendant has to, number one, have made full disclosure of all material facts to the attorney," Epner explained.

"That requires that the attorney understands what’s being told to them. If you know that your attorney is drunk, that does not count as making full disclosure of all material facts," he continued.

"Now if, for example, Trump was getting two sets of advice from an attorney: one before 4 p.m. and when the attorney hadn’t been drinking and a second, much more aggressive set of advice after 4 p.m., when he had been drinking and this was a pattern, it would not be reasonable to rely on the drunk advice," Epner went on to add.

Giuliani has denied being an alcoholic

For his part, the former New York City mayor has consistently denied that he suffers from any kind of a drinking problem.

Giuliani told NBC New York in 2021, "I don’t think I’ve ever done an interview drunk. I mean, I drink normally. I like Scotch. I drink Scotch."

"I’m not an alcoholic. I’m a functioning — I probably function more effectively than 90 percent of the population," he insisted.