Giuliani to Seek Removal of Georgia Election Case to Federal Court

Rudy Giuliani arrives at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 17, 2022. John Bazemore/AP Photo

Attorney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said on Wednesday, after surrendering at the Fulton County jail and being released on bail, that he would seek to move his case to federal court in about a week.

“I will, within the next week or so, file a motion of removal,” he said on a 77 WABC radio show on his way back to New York from Georgia.

The conditions of his bond, which was negotiated at $150,000, prevent him from speaking to other defendants, but Mr. Giuliani said he expects former President Donald Trump to do the same and believes the case will be removed.

A total of 19 defendants were charged in a case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over their challenge of the 2020 Georgia general election results. Ms. Willis alleges the actions constitute a “criminal racketeering enterprise” and that all defendants violated the state’s  Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. She gave the defendants until noon Aug. 25 to voluntarily surrender or else face arrest, and the majority of defendants have already done so.

Defendants Mark Meadows, former chief of staff to the president, and Jeffrey Clark, former Justice Department official, have already filed notices of removals, plus emergency motions to request the change in jurisdiction take place before their arrests.

Ms. Willis called the attempt to avoid arrest “baseless,“ ”meritless,“ and ”improper” and urged a federal judge to deny it. U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones of the Northern District of Georgia, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, did so on Wednesday, citing an upcoming evidentiary hearing on the case removal scheduled for Aug. 28. Mr. Meadows and Mr. Clark will still be subject to the Aug. 25 surrender or arrest deadline.

‘Surreal’ Procedure

Mr. Giuliani said it was a long walk and procedure to get fingerprinted and photographed, and other people jailed started chanting “Rudy! Rudy!” when he passed by.

“I actually got applauded by the prisoners, I don’t know how I feel about that,” he said with a laugh. “And then when I went out, the press went crazy.”

Mr. Giuliani gave interviews before and after the surrender in addition to the radio interview and then continued with his own livestream podcast that evening from an airport in Teterboro, New Jersey. All Wednesday, he repeated his concern that the rule of law was being destroyed.

“This one is surreal. I just worry so much that this is going to happen over and over again to Americans,” he said on WABC. He noted several times that some of the other codefendants were people he'd never met, not famous people like the former president, but local citizens who were now going to face high legal fees and public scrutiny because of the nature of the indictment.

“I’m not saying this for me, I’m saying this for the 18 others,” he said on his podcast. “If it’s not faced as an American injustice, it will just be repeated.”

Mr. Giuliani has already seen repeat investigations; in 2021, his home was raided by federal investigators, and he had his electronic devices seized. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

“When you’ve been through September 11, you’re not going to get upset over these bullies. They’re not going to upset me,” he said. “I know what I’m doing is for the good of my country.”

Trump Arraignment May Be Televised

Mr. Giuliani noted that, while the staff at the local jail were all very professional, he had to go through every step of the booking process, and he expressed criticism that they were going to make a former President of the United States do the same. The mugshot and bail are safeguards taken against having someone who has been charged flee the country, he said.

“If Trump was going to run away, a $200,000 bond is going to stop him?” Mr. Giuliani said. “I hope you can see the whole thing’s being done for political purpose.”

President Trump’s Thursday arrival in Georgia has been much anticipated. He had announced an afternoon arrival on his social media, and shortly afterward, supporter Laura Loomer started organizing a rally that would begin late morning ahead of his arrival. The idea gathered steam as the GOP frontrunner promoted the rally posts on social media on Wednesday.

By 7 a.m. on Thursday, enthusiastic supporters had already begun to gather.

By 11 a.m., hundreds of people, including the media, had gathered on the street alongside the jail.

The arraignment will happen separately, and, unlike President Trump’s last three cases, his arraignment in the fourth may be televised.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued an order allowing the recording of video and audio in the courtroom between Aug. 23 and Sept. 8, the period Ms. Willis said she plans to hold arraignments, following the request of four television stations.

“Nobody has ever fought for election integrity like President Donald J. Trump. For doing so, I will proudly be arrested tomorrow afternoon in Georgia. God bless the United States of America,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.