FBI agents stormed into Rudy Giuliani’s home and office in Manhattan Wednesday after obtaining a search warrant related to an ongoing criminal investigation Giuliani has described as “pure political persecution.”
Investigators are said to have seized his personal electronics, including a cell phone.
Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and personal lawyer for former US President Donald Trump, has been accused of illegally lobbying the Trump Administration on behalf of Ukrainian oligarchs who are said to have helped him find dirt on political rivals including Joe and Hunter Biden. Giuliani has also been accused of pushing Trump to remove Marie L. Yovanovitch, a former ambassador to Ukraine who testified during Trump’s first impeachment trial. Yovanovitch was ousted in 2019 shortly after the controversial phone call in which Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.
The investigation hinges on an obscure law requiring any person who lobbies on behalf of a foreign government or entity to register with the DOJ.
Giuliani says he did not violate that law.
The FBI invasion into Rudy Giuliani’s apartment marks the culmination of a months-long effort at the FBI to obtain a search warrant that was achieved only when Merrick B. Garland replaced William Barr as US Attorney General. Executing a search warrant against a lawyer for a former president is unprecedented and smacks of political gain.
“The warrant served on Mr. Giuliani’s law office is another disturbing example of complete disregard for the attorney-client privilege protected by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution,” argues Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, who went on to note the FBI’s refusal to investigate allegations against Hunter Biden despite having “clear evidence” including “texts and emails” proving Hunter’s “failure to register numerous times as a foreign agent, child pornography, money laundering,” and other offenses.
“Any American – red or blue – should be extremely disturbed by what happened here today,” adds Giuliani’s son, Andrew. “This is disgusting, this is absolutely absurd, and it’s the continued politicization of the Justice Department that we have seen and it has to stop. If this can happen to the former president’s lawyer, this can happen to any American.”
Obtaining a search warrant against a lawyer is difficult because executing the search could potentially expose confidential communications with the lawyer’s clients. In this case, the lawyer’s main client was Donald Trump. In order for the FBI to obtain the warrant on Rudy Giuliani, officials had to convince a judge that he probably committed a crime and that evidence would probably be found during the search.
Sources:
FBI Searches Giuliani’s Home and Office, Seizing Phones and Computers
Feds execute warrant at Rudy Giuliani’s NYC home, office
FBI seizes electronics from Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment