On Dec. 2, 2020, Giuliani, head of President Trump’s legal team, appeared before the Michigan House Oversight Committee for a hearing. Holding a thick binder, he said these are the declaratory testimonies of witnesses that indicate massive election fraud in Michigan.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani denied Monday (May 3) that federal agents had accused him of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), telling Fox News that federal investigators were “trying to frame” him.
Federal investigators raided Giuliani’s New York City apartment last week with a search warrant and seized electronic devices, accusing him of allegedly lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials and violating the law in 2019.
Giuliani has served as Trump’s personal attorney and has handled many sensitive and difficult matters.
Giuliani called last week’s raid on his apartment by federal agents an act that “got out of hand.
“About 6 a.m., there was a knock on my door – a very loud knock – and there were untold numbers of FBI agents outside,” Giuliani told Fox News.
“Typically, someone who has been a former U.S. attorney, a prosecutor, a mayor, a deputy attorney general, usually they get a subpoena – not a raid on their home.” Giuliani said.
“They would only raid Donald Trump’s (Trump’s) lawyers.” Giuliani continued, “I can’t think of any other lawyer other than Trump’s that has been raided. Trump is in a special category because he has no constitutional rights (meaning, Trump’s constitutional rights were illegally denied.)”
Giuliani describes what happened during the raid. “They showed me a search warrant that was looking for electronics in my apartment for alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), (saying I) represented an unknown Ukrainian official without registering as a foreign agent.” Giuliani said.
He said he has never acted as a foreign agent and was “shocked” by the allegations, which he has offered to discuss with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in the past.
“I’ve been a lawyer for 51 years, and I used to run that office,” said Giuliani, who previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“I understand the criminal law, and I didn’t break the law.” Giuliani further said that he also “knows FARA very well” and has “full compliance” with FARA.
“I have a clause in my contract that says I will not act as a foreign agent, and I want to show these documents to the authorities so they will stop the illegal leak investigations they have been conducting,” Giuliani said.
The warrant says Giuliani is suspected of violating FARA while lobbying on behalf of Ukraine, which requires individuals to notify the State Department if they are acting as a foreign agent.
U.S. media previously reported that federal prosecutors made a claim that Giuliani’s quest to fire the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was done at the request of Ukrainian officials in exchange for damaging information about the Biden fathers and sons with Ukraine. If such an exchange existed, Giuliani may have violated federal lobbying laws, even if no financial payments were involved.
Giuliani, as Trump’s personal attorney, was a central figure in Trump’s push to investigate corruption against Biden and his son Hunter involving the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings. Hunter was a board member of the Ukrainian company.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, the Ukrainians who worked with Giuliani, have been charged with, among other charges, funneling foreign money to various U.S. campaigns to gain influence over candidates and violating campaign finance rules.
But so far, no charges have been filed against Giuliani.
Giuliani told Fox News that he and his attorney most recently contacted the prosecutor’s office in the Southern District of New York on March 4, after reading reports about him and asking for materials to be provided to them.
“I said, ‘If you have concerns, please give me an opportunity to prove to you that this is not true,'” Giuliani said. “They never agreed, and they never stopped leaking.”
Giuliani added, “There is no evidence that I tried to influence the government on behalf of my clients.”
Giuliani told Fox News that because of his role as Trump’s personal attorney, he decided the “safest course of action” was to refer all of his Ukrainian clients to attorney Victoria Toensing.
The FBI has reportedly visited Toensing. A source familiar with the situation said Toensing gave the FBI a phone, but agents did not search her home.
The source also told Fox News that Toensing was told she was “not a target of the investigation.
Giuliani said the investigation itself was spurred on by “hatred of President Trump” and that the FBI did so.
“They have no control over their rational thinking or decency anymore, and they have serious, serious ethical problems driven by Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Giuliani said.
“They’re trying to frame me,” Giuliani told Fox News. “They’re trying to find something that they can turn into (my) crime, some technical violation, some mistake that I made, and take them all away.”
As for any next steps in the investigation, Giuliani said he will be represented by his attorney, Robert Costello, who has also been consulting with Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.
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