Topline
A Judge in Fulton County, Georgia, ruled Tuesday that Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, must appear next week before a special grand jury that is investigating Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, according to multiple outlets, after Giuliani had sought to delay his testimony for another month.
Rudy Giuliani delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention.
Key Facts
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney denied Giuliani’s request to push back to mid-September his appearance before the grand jury—which was launched by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) in February 2021 to investigate Trump’s post-election conduct—and ordered the former New York mayor testify on August 17.
Attorneys for Giuliani—who was previously scheduled to appear before the grand jury Tuesday—had argued his testimony needed to be pushed back because they said he couldn’t travel by plane after heart surgery.
McBurney argued the new appearance date of August 17 gave Giuliani “plenty of time to make the trip” from New York to Atlanta by car, according to Bloomberg.
The order comes a month after a New York Supreme Court judge ruled Giuliani must testify before the jury after Trump’s former personal lawyer tried to challenge the jury’s subpoena.
Key Background
Giuliani is under investigation for spreading false claims of voter fraud to state lawmakers in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and urging them to appoint a new slate of electors in Trump’s favor. Giuliani perpetuated these claims to lawmakers in several states in the weeks after the election. The Fulton County grand jury issued a subpoena for Giuliani to testify in July, which he attempted to block. He then failed to appear at a hearing about the subpoena challenge. The special grand jury could take a year to complete its probe, after which it plans to issue a report that could recommend criminal charges, though a separate grand jury would need to indict Trump or any others involved. The House January 6 committee has also focused on Giuliani’s post-election conduct, airing several clips during the panel’s public hearings of the former New York mayor appearing before Georgia lawmakers and promoting false theories that Trump actually won the state of Georgia in 2020.
Tangent
The jury has subpoenaed several other Trump allies, including conservative legal scholar John Eastman, Trump campaign attorneys Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Further Reading
Giuliani Ordered to Testify to Atlanta Grand Jury in 2020 Election Probe (Bloomberg)
New York Judge Orders Rudy Giuliani To Testify Before Georgia Grand Jury Investigating Trump (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/08/09/giuliani-must-appear-next-week-before-georgia-grand-jury-investigating-trump-judge-orders/