Rudy Giuliani faced a special grand jury on Wednesday under a judge’s order to appear before the court investigating attempts by former President Donald Trump and others to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
News cameras filled Giuliani as he stepped out of a limousine Wednesday morning with his attorney, Robert Costello, and walked up the stairs to the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta. Giuliani told reporters he would not discuss his testimony.
“Grand juries, as I recall, are secret,” Giuliani told reporters. “They ask the questions and we’ll see.” Grand jury secrecy rules prohibit people present during grand jury testimony from discussing it, but that prohibition does not apply to witnesses. Giuliani is a former federal prosecutor.
It’s unclear how much the former New York mayor and Trump lawyer will be willing to say now that his lawyers have been told he is the target of the investigation. The hearings will be held behind closed doors because special grand jury proceedings are secret.
But Giuliani’s appearance is another high-profile step in a rapidly escalating investigation that has ensnared several Trump allies and brought heightened scrutiny to the desperate and ultimately failed efforts to overturn the Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. It is one of several investigations into Trump’s actions in office as he lays the groundwork for another run at the White House in 2024.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened her investigation following the disclosure of a landmark January 2, 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In the call, Trump suggested that Raffensperger could “find” the exact number of votes it would take to overturn the election results in Georgia.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He rated the call as “perfect”. Willis filed motions last month to compel the testimony of seven Trump associates and advisers. He has also said he is considering calling Trump himself to testify, and the former president has hired a legal team in Atlanta that includes a prominent criminal attorney.
In seeking Giuliani’s testimony, Willis noted that he was both a personal attorney for Trump and a top attorney for his 2020 campaign.
He recalled in a petition how Giuliani and others appeared at a state Senate committee meeting in late 2020 and presented a video that Giuliani said showed election workers producing “suitcases” of illegal ballots from unknown sources, out of sight of poll watchers. Allegations of fraud were denied by Georgia election officials within 24 hours. However, Giuliani continued to make public statements and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread voter fraud through the debunked video, Willis noted in his filing.
Two of the poll workers seen in the video, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, said they have faced relentless harassment online and in person after it was shown at a Dec. 3 Georgia legislative hearing in which Giuliani appeared. In another hearing a week later, Giuliani said the footage showed women “sneaking through USB ports as if they were vials of heroin or cocaine.” They were actually passing out candy.
Willis wrote in the court filing that Giuliani’s appearance and testimony were “part of a multi-state plan coordinated by the Trump campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.” Willis also wrote in a petition seeking the testimony of attorney Kenneth Chesebro who worked with Giuliani to coordinate and carry out a plan for Georgia Republicans to serve as bogus electors. These 16 people signed a certificate falsely declaring that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and claiming to be “duly elected and qualified” electors from the state even though Biden had won the state and a list of Democratic voters.
Giuliani’s lawyers tried to delay his appearance before the special grand jury, saying he was unable to fly because of heart stent surgery in early July.
But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversees the special grand jury, said during a hearing last week that Giuliani was scheduled to be in Atlanta on Wednesday and could travel by bus, car or train if necessary .
Asked how he made the trip, Giuliani told reporters, “I’ll give you one answer: I didn’t walk.” Other Trump allies have also been swept up in the investigation. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, received a subpoena ordering him to appear to testify on August 23. Graham has contested that subpoena, citing his protections as a member of Congress. A judge on Monday rejected that argument and said he had to testify. Graham has said he will appeal.
Willis has indicated she is interested in calls between Graham and Raffensberger about the results in Georgia in the weeks following the election.