Attorney Committee Urges Rudy Giuliani to Be Punished Over 2020 Election Fraud Claims

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks to media at a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on Nov 19, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

A District of Columbia disciplinary panel said former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani violated ethics rules when he filed a lawsuit that challenged the 2020 election results.

The committee of the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility will recommend a specific penalty later for Giuliani, who faces accusations that he breached ethics rules against bringing frivolous lawsuits and harming the administration of justice. The panel could recommend disbarring him, suspending his D.C. law license, or formally censuring him.

Hamilton “Phil” Fox, of the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel, said that Giuliani should be disbarred and claimed that he attempted to undermine the credibility of the 2020 General Election. Giuliani had served as former President Donald Trump’s attorney for legal challenges in several states.

Fox alleged Thursday that Giuliani’s claims about the 2020 election were tantamount to “harming the country” and described them as a form of “misconduct.” Giuliani “has at least got to realize that his or her law license is at risk” for filing a lawsuit that tries to “ignore the will of the voters,” Fox said in the hearing, according to reporters.

“There is no question that his conduct of the events of 9/11 was admirable, more than admirable,” Fox said, referring to how Giuliani handled the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while he was the Republican mayor of New York City. “But as you said, that was more than 20 years. And I don’t know whether something’s happened to Mr. Giuliani in the interim.”

Giuliani was never charged with any crimes. The disciplinary counsel on Thursday rendered their judgment for his lawsuit that was filed to challenge Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results, which was ultimately rejected by several courts.

Giuliani Response

“Mr. Chairman, I would like to personally object to Mr. Fox’s attack on me as having tried to undermine American democracy, when there’s not a single fact in the record for that argument,” Giuliani said Thursday, reported Law & Crime. “He has raised no such argument to give us a chance to rebut it during this case. It is a typical or unethical cheap attack not supported by anything in the record, far more so than anything I alleged that you are questioning.”

Giuliani said that he had a “good faith belief” that something was amiss following the 2020 election. “I don’t know what happened to the defense of lawyers who take on unpopular causes,” he said.

Jenna Ellis (L) and Rudy Giuliani (R) appear before the Michigan House Oversight Committee in Lansing, Mich., on Dec. 2, 2020. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

On Thursday, Giuliani’s lawyer, John Leventhal, told the panel that punishment should be light and that “politics should not play any part, we hope, we trust in this committee’s final recommendation.” Fox disputed Leventhal’s statement.

Leventhal told the panel in closing arguments on Dec. 8 that Giuliani should not be disciplined because the judge in the Pennsylvania case did not accept and never considered the only version of the complaint that Giuliani himself signed.

Leventhal said the crux of the lawsuit was not voter fraud but social distancing restrictions imposed on election observers and policies in some counties that allowed voters to address mistakes on mail ballots.

“A reasonable attorney can make that argument without being frivolous,” he said.

A New York court suspended Giuliani’s law license in 2021 over his statements about the 2020 election.

Case Dismissed

Earlier in December, Giuliani offered testimony to the D.C. panel and said he has “been persecuted for three or four years, including false charges brought against me by the federal government,” Law & Crime reported.

The former mayor was likely referring to the FBI’s raid targeting Giuliani’s New York apartment and office in May 2021, resulting in the seizure of several electronic devices. Last month, Giuliani learned that he would not face any charges following a federal probe into whether he engaged in illegal activity while lobbying on Trump’s behalf in Ukraine years ago.

Prosecutors working for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York submitted (pdf) a court filing asking the judge to terminate the special master named to oversee a review of materials obtained after the FBI executed its May 2021 search warrant.

“The Government writes to notify the Court that the grand jury investigation that led to the issuance of the above-referenced warrants has concluded, and that based on information currently available to the Government, criminal charges are not forthcoming,” prosecutors said.

A lawyer for Giuliani, Robert Costello, described the move to CNN as “wonderful, long-expected news.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Giuliani’s office for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.