On Wednesday morning at approximately 6 AM, the office and apartment of Rudy Giuliani were searched by federal investigators. These investigators had a warrant that allowed them to seize all of Giuliani’s electronic devices.
The investigation into Giuliani has to do with his dealings in Ukraine. It dates back to 2019, when president Trump was first impeached for reportedly trying to press the Ukranian president into starting an investigation into the Biden family, specifically current president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The goal of the investigation would have been to dig up dirt on the two of them in order to keep president Biden away from the presidency, as president Trump saw him as a key competitor for the 2020 election at the time. More specifically, Giuliani is being investigated for lobbying in the United States on behalf of other countries without registering as a foreign agent with the Justice Department. It had been reported that while Giuliani was trying to make this investigation into the Bidens happen, several Ukranian officials asked for favors. One of these officials was reported to be Yuriy Lutsenko, the prosecutor general at the time, who asked him to help arrange a meeting with the U.S. attorney general to discuss efforts to recover national looted assets. The investigation into Giuliani’s actions is being led by Audrey Strauss, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Reports have shown that federal investigators had enough evidence to get the warrant for Giuliani’s devices last year, however, the Justice Department resisted approving one at the time. It has been suggested that this was because they wanted to wait until the presidency had changed hands before going through with it, however, that has not been confirmed at this point in time. Because of the warrant, the investigators got their hands on Giuliani’s phone, computer, iPad, and other devices.
Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello has said that the investigation is corrupt, and that he could prove that Giuliani did nothing wrong. He also said that Giuliani and his legal team have made several attempts to clear up the foreign agent situation with prosecutors before now, but they declined. Giuliani himself has stated that he never represented anything foreign before the US. He stated that he was given opportunities to take on certain Ukrainian officials as paying clients, including former prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko, but decided to decline because it would be “too complicated.”
A warrant was also issued for the phone of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer who was also involved in the campaign to pressure the Ukrainian president into starting an investigation into the Bidens. However, Toensing is not a target of the investigation. Toensing and her law firm have publicly noted their willingness to cooperate with the investigation, saying that Toensing “has always conducted herself and her law practice according to the highest legal and ethical standards. She would have been happy to turn over any relevant documents. All they had to do was ask.”
At the time of writing this article, Giuliani has not been charged with any crimes. Beyond that, federal prosecutors have not yet publicly accused him of any misconduct. As more events unfold in this case, you can be sure to see an update from us here at Blind Boys Politics.
