A Washington, D.C. Bar committee said Thursday that disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani violated at least one professional rule when he tried to help former President Donald Trump overturn his 2020 election loss—a preliminary finding that could result in the suspension or revocation of his license to practice law.
Following a week of testimony from Giuliani and some of his allies, the three-member disciplinary panel agreed that “Giuliani’s rushed effort to file lawsuits to throw out hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania votes without any direct evidence of election fraud… crossed ethical lines,” Politico reported.
D.C. Bar counsel Phil Fox, who investigated and made the case for punishing the former New York City mayor, called Giuliani “the head of” Trump’s anti-democratic effort to cast doubt on and negate President Joe Biden’s victory.
Fox urged the panel to disbar Giuliani for trying to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters.
“I think the harm that was done is unprecedented,” said Fox. “The only sanction that’s appropriate for this kind of misconduct is disbarment.”
Fox and Giuliani will now submit written documents for the committee to consider before it issues a final ruling.
According to Politico:
Giuliani contended that his efforts were extraordinarily rushed because of the narrow time frames required in litigating election challenges. He described efforts to obtain affidavits and evidence of election fraud.
After the presentations concluded, Giuliani launched into an extended and furious defense of his conduct, even as his lawyer tried to stop him from speaking.
“It is a typical, unethical, cheap attack,” Giuliani said of Fox’s presentation, reiterating his contention that there’s a legitimate case that the 2020 election was stolen. “I’ll put my work on democracy… up against Mr. Fox and anyone else. For that man to engage in that kind of a personal attack when there was no record of that, and for you to allow him to do that, I consider an outrage.”
Fox, for his part, said that Giuliani’s attempt “to undermine the legitimacy of the election” violates “the basic oath we all take to support the Constitution.”
