NY Judge Orders Giuliani to Testify in Georgia Election Case

Fulton DA is investigating alleged election interference by Trump allies
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 20, 2022 2:58 PM CDT
Guiliani Ordered to Testify in Georgia Election Probe
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference June 7, 2022, in New York.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

A judge in New York has ordered Rudy Giuliani to appear next month before a special grand jury in Atlanta that's investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, the AP reports. New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber on July 13 issued an order directing Giuliani, a Trump lawyer and former New York City mayor, to appear before the special grand jury on Aug. 9 and on any other dates ordered by the court in Atlanta, according to documents filed Wednesday in Fulton County Superior Court.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her investigation early last year, and a special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request. In a letter requesting the special grand jury, she said her team was looking into "any coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections in this state." Earlier this month, she filed petitions to compel seven Trump associates, including Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham, to testify before the special grand jury. Because they don't live in Georgia, she had to use a process that involves getting a judge in the state where they live to order them to appear.

Giuliani had been summoned to appear in court in New York on July 13 to present any reasons why a subpoena should not be issued for him to testify in Atlanta, but he failed to show up for the hearing, Farber wrote in his order. In the petition for Giuliani’s testimony, Willis identified him as both a personal attorney for Trump and a lead attorney for his campaign. There is evidence that Giuliani's appearance at a state Senate subcommitee hearing, where he presented video he claimed showed election fraud but was soon debunked, "was part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere," the petition states. (Willis is considering subpoenaing Trump himself.)

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