Atlanta prosecutors told lawyers for Rudy Giuliani on Monday that he is a target of their criminal investigation into possible illegal attempts by then-President Donald Trump and others to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, the one of Giuliani’s lawyers said Monday.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade alerted Giuliani’s local attorney in Atlanta that the former New York City mayor and Trump’s personal lawyer could face criminal charges, said another of Giuliani’s lawyers, Bob Costello . News of the disclosure was first reported by the New York Times.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened the investigation last year, and a special grand jury was empaneled in May at her request. She identified him as Trump’s personal attorney and as the lead attorney for his re-election campaign.
County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversees the special grand jury, has ordered Giuliani to appear in court to testify Wednesday.
Willis’ investigation was spurred by a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that January 2021 conversation, Trump suggested that Raffensperger could “find” the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss in the state.
It has also become clear that the district attorney is interested in the Georgia legislative committee hearings held in December 2020 where Giuliani appeared and spread false claims of voter fraud in Atlanta’s Fulton County.
Last month, Willis filed motions to compel the testimony of seven Trump associates and advisers. Because they don’t live in Georgia, he had to use a process that involves asking a judge in the states where they live to order them to appear.
In a petition seeking Giuliani’s testimony, Willis wrote that he and others appeared at a state Senate committee meeting and presented a video that Giuliani said showed poll workers producing “suitcases” of illegal ballots from unknown sources, out of sight of poll watchers.
Within 24 hours of the December 3, 2020 hearing, Raffensperger’s office had denied the video. But Giuliani continued to make public statements and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread vote fraud using the debunked video, Willis wrote.
The evidence shows that Giuliani’s appearance and testimony “was part of a multi-state plan coordinated by the Trump campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere,” the petition says.
LOOK | The search warrant for an FBI raid on Trump’s residence has been released:
Trump under investigation for Espionage Act violations, FBI search warrant reveals
A US federal judge has released the search warrant used at former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Justice Department released a short list of what FBI agents seized, which included 20 boxes of papers that could violate US espionage laws.
Another Trump ally called to testify
Also Monday, a federal judge said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws while trying to overturn his narrow loss of the 2020 general election in the state.
Lawyers for Graham, a Republican, had argued that his position as a US senator gave him immunity from having to appear before the investigative panel and asked the judge to quash his subpoena. But U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May wrote in an order Monday that immunities related to his role as a senator do not protect him from having to testify. Graham’s subpoena directs him to appear before a special grand jury on Aug. 23, but his office said Monday it plans to appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prosecutors have indicated they want to question Graham about phone calls they say he made to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks after Trump’s election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Sen. Lindsey Graham is seen with Trump during a February 2020 campaign rally in North Charleston, SC (Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press)
Graham had argued that a provision of the Constitution provides absolute protection against a senator being questioned about legislative acts. But the judge found that there are “considerable areas of potential grand jury investigation” that fall outside the reach of that provision. The judge also rejected Graham’s argument that the principle of “sovereign immunity” protects a senator from being subpoenaed by a state prosecutor.
Graham also argued that Willis, a Democrat, had not shown the extraordinary circumstances necessary to compel the testimony of a senior official. But the judge disagreed, finding that Willis had shown “extraordinary circumstances and a special need” for Graham’s testimony on matters related to an alleged attempt to influence or disrupt the Georgia election.
May, the judge, last month rejected a similar attempt by U.S. Rep. Jody Hice to avoid testifying before the special grand jury. Former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had argued that he could not travel to Atlanta to testify because of health problems, but Fulton County Judge McBurney ordered him to appear Wednesday.
Graham’s office said in a statement Monday that the senator disagrees with the judge’s interpretation of the provision of the Constitution that he believes protects him from being questioned by a state official. His lawyers have said he was making inquiries that were clearly part of his legislative duties, related to vote certification and proposed electoral legislation.
But the judge wrote that this ignores “the fact that the individuals on the calls have publicly suggested that Senator Graham was not only engaging in legislative fact-finding, but that he was suggesting or implying that Georgia election officials change their processes or otherwise could alter the state’s results.”
In calls made shortly after the 2020 general election, Graham “questioned Raffensperger and his staff about reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia to explore the possibility of a more favorable result for former President Donald Trump.” , Willis wrote in a petition.
Graham also “referred to allegations of widespread voter fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, consistent with public statements made by known Trump campaign affiliates,” he wrote.
Republican and Democratic state election officials across the country, courts and even Trump’s attorney general found there was no evidence of any voter fraud sufficient to affect the outcome of his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump-allied lawmakers planned to challenge the tallies in several battleground states when Congress convened on Jan. 6, 2021, to certify the results under the Election Count Act, but after the Capitol attack that day, Georgia’s account was never challenged.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and called his call to Raffensperger “perfect.”