Rudy Giuliani’s Downfall

From Girish Modi, Decatur, GA

Rudy Giuliani is a politician and lawyer who served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989, and the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. 

As an upstart chief prosecutor in perhaps the most prestigious legal office in the country, Giuliani had made use of a little-known federal statute RICO to charge dozens of mobsters with seemingly unrelated crimes made him a media darling and launched his political career. Ironically, four decades later, Giuliani finds himself on the other side of his own legal legacy — facing Georgia state criminal RICO charges in the Fulton County district attorney’s case against his longtime boss, former President Donald Trump, and 18 of his allies.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Giuliani drew high praise for his handling of the situation and even received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. Giuliani then tried to run as a presidential candidate in 2008 but withdrew from the race after finishing a distant third in Florida. 

Giuliani was an early and ardent supporter of fellow New Yorker Donald Trump’s pursuit of the presidency in 2016. When Trump was elected, Giuliani became Trump’s unofficial adviser on cyber security. In April 2018 Giuliani joined the legal team that was representing the president in the special counsel’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. After the investigation ended in March 2019, Giuliani continued to serve as one of Trump’s personal lawyers. He was especially involved in what was described as a back channel between Trump and Ukrainian officials. Giuliani was allegedly engaged in efforts to pressure Ukraine into launching a corruption investigation into one of Trump’s political rivals, Joe Biden. The actions of Trump, Giuliani, and others came under intense scrutiny in September 2019, when it was publicly revealed that a whistle-blower had filed a complaint concerning the president’s conduct regarding Ukraine. 

After Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Trump picked Giuliani to head the legal efforts to challenge the results. Giuliani subsequently made several public appearances in which he claimed widespread voter fraud, though court filings failed to include evidence to support his allegations. He focused particular attention on Georgia, making numerous false claims to state lawmakers. On January 6, 2021, the day on which Congress was scheduled to certify Biden’s victory, Giuliani was a speaker at a pro-Trump rally, and he urged the crowd to “have trial by combat.” Several of the president’s supporters then staged a violent attack on the Capitol, temporarily delaying the certification process.

 Giuliani’s efforts to overturn the election results led to several lawsuits. Notably, in late January he was sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems, the manufacturer of voting machines that he claimed were rigged in Biden’s favor. In addition, a New York appellate court suspended his law license in June 2021, ruling that he made “demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large.” The following month his license was also suspended in the District of Columbia. 

In August 2022 it was revealed that Giuliani was the target of a Georgia criminal investigation into efforts to influence the state’s 2020 election results. As part of that inquiry, he testified before a special grand jury later that month. On August 1, 2023, Trump was indicted for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and among his unnamed coconspirators was “an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the Defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not.”

Giuliani is accused of being at the center of the scheme and helping Trump push lies about the 2020 election. He is charged with 13 criminal counts, accused of soliciting public officials to violate their oaths of office and making false statements, including one falsely accusing Black election workers of fraud.

This is how Giuliani’s illustrious career came to an end. If convicted, he may spend the rest of his life in prison along with other co-conspirators.