Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer to former President Donald Trump, has been ordered to appear before a special grand jury in Georgia by a New York state Supreme Court justice.
Giuliani was subpoenaed earlier this month by the special grand jury, which is aiding in the investigation of Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn the Georgia presidential election results from 2020. The investigation is being led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who filed paperwork this week revealing that Giuliani had recently been ordered to appear before the grand jury.
After the subpoena was issued, the matter was transferred to New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber, who had to decide whether Giuliani, a resident of New York, had to appear in Georgia to give testimony. Farber ordered Giuliani to appear before him in court on July 11, but Giuliani failed to do so. On July 13, Farber officially ordered Giuliani to adhere to the subpoena from Willis and the grand jury.
Giuliani is considered to be the closest figure to Trump to be implicated in the inquiry so far. Trump himself has not yet been served a subpoena to appear before the grand jury.
Giuliani still has the legal ability to fight the subpoena order if he wants to argue against having to testify. But because of Farber’s order, Giuliani must make his case within the state of Georgia, rather than in New York.
If Giuliani fails to make the case that he shouldn’t have to testify, and subsequently doesn’t appear before the grand jury, he could be subject to an arrest warrant that would compel him to testify.
Seven Trump allies, including Giuliani, Trump lawyer John Eastman, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), have been ordered by the grand jury to testify. According to Giuliani’s subpoena order, Georgia investigators believe that he “possesses unique knowledge concerning communications between himself, former President Trump, the Trump campaign, and other known and unknown individuals involved in the multistate, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”
Giuliani has spent much of his time post-election pushing false claims of election fraud before state legislative panels throughout the country, including in Georgia. Speaking to state lawmakers in December 2020, Giuliani claimed that voting machines in Georgia had been tampered with, and that there was video evidence that additional, illegitimate ballots for President Joe Biden were being counted. Neither of those claims, nor others peddled by the former New York City mayor, have ever been substantiated with evidence.
The Fulton County investigation stems from an audio recording, released in early January 2021, that shows Trump trying to influence state officials to “find” him enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in Georgia. Trump made direct threats to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his legal counsel, telling them that they could face a “big risk,” legally speaking, if they didn’t help him flip the race.
In the state of Georgia, it is illegal to coerce, command, or otherwise try to get state election officials to engage in election fraud. A person convicted of such a charge faces one to three years of imprisonment.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy