As federal authorities continue their wide-ranging criminal investigation of former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, prosecutors have now dismantled an argument from the former president’s ally in a newly available court filing, arguing that — contrary to Giuliani’s perspective — he’s not automatically exempt from procedures related to criminal investigations just because of his work as a lawyer. Giuliani has sought the return of devices that authorities seized at his apartment and office in Manhattan last month, but in their new filing, prosecutors insist that he can not “claim his profession should have shielded him from the search warrant,” The Washington Post summarizes.
Originally, authorities seized a total of 18 electronic devices from Giuliani’s apartment and office, and Giuliani’s lawyers “have asked a federal judge to limit the access prosecutors will have to his electronic communications,” the Post adds. Prosecutors, however, note that “the mere fact that Giuliani and Toensing are lawyers does not mean that they are above the law or immune to criminal investigation.” A phone belonging to Giuliani associate Victoria Toensing was seized around the time of the warrants targeting Giuliani.
Discussing rhetoric from Giuliani and Toensing including requests to, as the Post explains, “examine search warrant affidavits prematurely,” the prosecutors added as follows:
‘Under their approach, the subjects of a criminal investigation would have the authority to make unilateral determinations not only of what is privileged, but also of what is responsive to a warrant.’
The former Trump lawyer and continued ally of the former president has been under investigation over potential violations of laws governing lobbying on behalf of foreign interests in the United States. In short, he may have been covertly ferrying the interests of certain foreign individuals to then-President Donald Trump when advocating for the removal of Marie Yovanovitch from her role as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. Giuliani had repeated dealings in Ukraine in connection to the Trump team’s effort to get damaging information on the Bidens out of the country.
Lobbying in the U.S. on behalf of foreign interests without notifying federal authorities is illegal. According to new reporting, authorities have also been examining Giuliani’s ties to Romania.
Prosecutors do not appear to have yet examined the contents of the devices seized from Giuliani’s residence and office. The prosecutors on the case have requested the selection of a “special master,” meaning a third party who will be tasked with reviewing the seized material ahead of any examinations of it by prosecutors. That third party would be looking for any materials that could violate attorney-client privilege among what was seized. Prosecutors noted — contrary to allegations from Giuliani of impropriety — that they have “been attentive to the fact that Giuliani and Toensing are both attorneys, and that Giuliani represented the former President.”
Besides the federal investigation, Giuliani is also facing a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, a voting technology company that was the subject of falsehoods that he spread about the integrity of last year’s election.
