The District of Columbia bar’s disciplinary committee ruled that former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani violated ethical rules as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump during his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 elections.
The preliminary decision could result in a suspension or loss of Giuliani’s license. A final conclusion will be made after Giuliani and D.C. Bar counsel Phil Fox submit written motions that the three-member panel will consider.
After a week of testimony by Giuliani, the committee found that Giuliani rushed to file lawsuits to contest the election results in Pennsylvania without direct evidence of election fraud.
“I think the harm that was done is unprecedented,” Fox said, adding that Giuliani should be disbarred. “The only sanction that’s appropriate for this kind of misconduct is disbarment.”
Giuliani claimed that he rushed because the timeframe to contest election results was too narrow, not enough to obtain affidavits and evidence of election fraud.
He and his lawyers also criticized the panel because the members didn’t immediately release the specific violations they found in their analysis.
The longtime Trump ally — who said that the former president waived attorney-client privileges to allow him to testify — attacked the decision and called it “unethical.”
“It is a typical, unethical, cheap attack,” Giuliani said of Fox’s presentation. “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.”
