Rudy Giuliani ordered to testify at grand jury
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to media outside his apartment building after suspension of his law license in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., June 24, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Rudy Giuliani has been by a New York judge to testify starting Aug. 9 before a grand jury in Georgia that is collecting evidence in a probe of possible criminal meddling in that state’s 2020 presidential election by former President Donald Trump, court records show.
Giuliani, who was Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, spearheaded legal efforts by the Republican president to overturn the electoral results in multiple swing states that were won that year by President Joe Biden.
A former New York City mayor and ex-federal prosecutor, Giuliani is one of a group of Trump-allied lawyers who were subpoenaed in late June to testify before the special grand jury in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta.
The same grand jury has also issued a subpoena to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has taken steps to try to block that demand for his testimony.
In a court filing in Atlanta on Wednesday, Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis wrote that the subpoena for Giuliani was presented to a New York judge, a process that reflects the fact that the lawyer lives in Manhattan, and not Georgia.
On July 11, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Thomas Farber issued an order to Giuliani directing him to appear in court there and make any argument he had about why he should not be made to comply with the subpoena.
Giuliani failed to appear at that hearing and Farber on July 13 issued a final order directing Giuliani “to appear and testify before the Special Purpose Grand Jury on August 9, 2022, and on any other such dates as this Court may order,” Willis wrote.
The district attorney added that Giuliani had been served with that final order.
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