Down goes Rudy Giuliani
We’ve been given yet another reason to be happy that Merrick Garland was confirmed as Attorney General. Back when Rudy Giuliani was poking his nose around in Ukraine, trying to dig up “dirt” on Joe Biden, everyone knew he was involved in things in which he had no business being involved. Both the US Attorney’s office in New York and the FBI wanted to learn more and began actively seeking search warrants. Those applications were sitting in limbo, as the last administration’s DOJ repeatedly blocked the warrants. As the saying goes, there is a new sheriff in town, and those roadblocks have been removed.
The Times reported that investigators were finally able to execute the search warrant they have been trying for so long to get. They raided Giuliani’s apartment and seized his electronic devices. For the most part, investigators are looking for evidence that Giuliani “illegally lobbied” the last administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs who were helping him try to find negative information on Joe Biden. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Now, Giuliani has not only put his license at risk, but he has put his freedom at risk, depending on what investigators find. Now, Joe Biden is president despite Giuliani’s machinations, and Giuliani is looking at some serious trouble.
A warrant does not mean Giuliani is guilty of any crimes; however, it does signal that investigators had enough to convince a judge to sign the warrant. Likely, the threshold is even higher for an attorney, especially a high-profile lawyer. Nothing Giuliani did changed the outcome of the election, so his efforts were all for nothing, though he wreaked plenty of havoc along the way. One of the worst things Giuliani did was to cost Marie Yovanovitch her position, and investigators are looking into that as well according to the Times. The investigators are trying to determine whether Giuliani’s Ukrainian conspirators wanted Yovanovitch out because of business or personal reasons. If this is true, Giuliani may have violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which makes it illegal to influence the US government on behalf of a foreign official without first making the DOJ aware. So far, Giuliani has been protected from his potentially illegal activities, but that protection is gone.
The Times reported that even though senior DOJ officials supported a search warrant, investigators tend to avoid investigations that can impact a presidential race, though James Comey did that to Hillary Clinton (and many believe it cost her the race). Even after the election, DOJ officials blocked the warrant because Trump continued to wrongfully contest the election, and they were Trump appointees. Giuliani was also involved in contesting the election, rendering him untouchable at the time. Now, the frivolous lawsuits have been quashed, the Trump appointees are gone, and as expected, Giuliani has been left hanging out to dry. The only thing that would make this sweeter is if they could link Trump to their investigation as well, but the Manhattan DA has something else waiting for him.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years