Rudy Giuliani, once a federal prosecutor in New York, has been temporarily barred from practicing law in the state for making “false and misleading statements” as he pushed the untrue narrative that widespread voter fraud stole the presidency from his client, former President Donald Trump.
The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court said Thursday it was “immediately suspending” Giuliani’s license — although it is an interim suspension, so he will have an opportunity for reinstatement.
“We conclude that there is uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020,” according to a scathing 33-page decision issued Thursday by the New York Supreme Court’s appellate division.
The court said Giuliani’s misconduct deepened partisan divisions in the country and inflamed tensions that led to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, when Trump supporters stormed the building to disrupt a joint congressional session to count state-certified Electoral College votes.
“The seriousness of respondent’s uncontroverted misconduct cannot be overstated,” the court said. “This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and our current president, Joseph R. Biden.”
Giuliani, former mayor of New York and a longtime fixture in New York City politics, has been at the forefront of Trump’s failed effort to reverse the results of the election he lost. Giuliani is part of a coterie of attorneys who sought to invalidate results in battleground states that voted for President Joe Biden. Many of the claims relied on conspiracy theories and have been proved false by state and federal courts and election security officials.
Responding Thursday afternoon on his WABC-AM New York City radio show, an emotional Giuliani said, “I’m going to tell you unequivocally: I did not commit any crimes or anything close to them.”
“I defended an unpopular client,” he said. “I’ve been threatened with death for it. I’ve had a good deal of my income taken away. I’ve lost friends over it. Isn’t that what a lawyer is supposed to do?”
“This is not even close to a fair decision,” Giuliani said, his voice cracking.
In a statement, Trump said Giuliani was being punished for “fighting what has already been proven to be a Fraudulent Election.”
“The greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, the Eliot Ness of his generation, one of the greatest crime fighters our Country has ever known, and this is what the Radical Left does to him,” Trump’s statement said. “It’s nothing but a Witch Hunt, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
Here are the two instances of misconduct that the court has cited which both related to investigations into voter fraud in the 2020 election:
-In making this motion, the AGC primarily relies on claims that respondent made false and misleading factual statements to cast doubt on the reliability of the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joseph R. Biden was constitutionally certified and then inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. We find that the following false statements made by the respondent constitute uncontroverted proof of the respondent’s professional misconduct.
-Respondent repeatedly stated that in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania more absentee ballots came in during the election than were sent out before the election.
Sources: 100 Percent Fed Up, USA Today, ABC News