Former Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani charged
2022.12.05 13:13
Former Trump Lawyer Rudy Giuliani charged
Budrigannews.com – A Washington, D.C., disciplinary official argued on Monday that Rudy Giuliani, the ex-lawyer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, “weaponized his law license” to press baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
The city’s top disciplinary counsel stated in opening statements before a hearing committee of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility that Giuliani violated attorney ethics rules in a Pennsylvania lawsuit filed in November 2020 on behalf of the Trump campaign.
A judge rejected the lawsuit, which sought to invalidate state-based votes.The campaign was denied permission to submit a revised complaint by a federal appeals court.
“Weaponized his law license to bring a frivolous action in an attempt to undermine the Constitution,” the former New York City mayor and former top U.S. prosecutor in Manhattan, Hamilton “Phil” Fox of the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, told the panel on Monday.
John Leventhal, Giuliani’s attorney, said that his client shouldn’t be charged because the judge didn’t accept the only version of the complaint in the Pennsylvania lawsuit that Giuliani signed and never looked at it.
Leventhal additionally blamed the adjudicator’s explanations behind excusing the Pennsylvania claim and noticed that the court didn’t authorize Giuliani over his contentions.
On Monday, Giuliani was the first witness called.He talked about how he started leading the legal efforts of the Trump campaign to challenge the results of the 2020 election, including his work on the Pennsylvania lawsuit.
After hearing testimony from both sides this week, the hearing committee will decide whether Giuliani should be punished.
A D.C. court must impose any discipline, including the disbarment or suspension of Giuliani’s law license.
Giuliani’s New York regulation permit was suspended in June 2021 after a state requests court found that he made “verifiably bogus and deluding” explanations that broad electoral misrepresentation sabotaged the political race.
His law license in D.C. was temporarily revoked following the New York decision.
