Giuliani May Not Go the Route of Steve Bannon

'New York Times' reports he's in talks with House panel to testify about the Capitol riot
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 13, 2022 8:20 AM CST
Giuliani May Not Go the Route of Steve Bannon
Rudy Giuliani is deciding whether to cooperate with House investigators.   (AP Photo/Robert Bumsted, File)

Trump allies Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows have defied the House panel investigating the Capitol riot to the extent that they now face the possibility of criminal charges. Rudy Giuliani may go a different route. The New York Times reports that Trump's longtime attorney is in negotiations to testify before the panel. Much remains up in the air, and even if Giuliani does testify, it's not clear how cooperative he would be. But "Giuliani, through his lawyer, has signaled to the committee that he plans to take a less confrontational stance toward its requests" than other close Trump allies, per the Times. Doing so would allow him to avoid an expensive legal battle over his subpoena and perhaps a criminal referral.

As the Hill notes, Giuliani had been scheduled to testify before the panel on Tuesday, but his appearance was postponed, apparently because of the negotiations underway. The subpoena asserted that he advised the former president on ways to undermine the 2020 election: “You actively promoted claims of election fraud on behalf of former President Trump and sought to convince state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results," reads the subpoena. Newsweek rounds up questions investigators would likely ask Giuliani, including what he meant by waging a "trial by combat" at a rally before the riot. (Giuliani's appearance on the Masked Singer apparently didn't sit well with judges.)

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