Chris Lieberman, FISM News

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Lawyers for former New York City mayor and Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani revealed that Giuliani is one of the targets in a Georgia criminal investigation into whether he and others attempted to interfere with the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

Special prosecutor Nathan Wade informed Giuliani’s legal team that he was the subject of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ criminal investigation into whether former president Trump and his allies illegally attempted to overturn the presidential election, Giuliani’s attorney Bob Costello confirmed Monday. The New York Times was the first to report that Giuliani was a target of the probe.

Willis impaneled a grand jury earlier this year in Atlanta, the seat of Fulton County and capital of Georgia, to investigate whether members of Trump’s team made “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections.” Last month, that grand jury subpoenaed Giuliani as part of their investigation.

Willis began her probe last year, after a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the former president allegedly asked Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to change the results of the election in a state where President Joe Biden narrowly defeated Trump.

Giuliani has stated that he will not testify about conversations with Trump because they are covered under attorney-client privilege.

The grand jury is also interested in Giuliani’s December 2020 presentation before a state Senate committee hearing in which Giuliani alleged widespread voter fraud in Fulton County. During the hearing, Giuliani presented a video that he claimed showed election workers producing suitcases of illegal votes outside of the view of poll watchers. Less than 24 hours later, Raffensperger issued a response allegedly debunking the video.

Raffensperger changed his tune regarding the Fulton County election, however, after proof came to light of election mismanagement in Fulton County that included at least 200 absentee ballots counted twice in the 2020 election and numerous public allegations claimed election issues in Fulton County could have been widespread enough to tip the outcome in the state. Raffensperger even called out individual election leaders in the county.

Fulton County’s continued failures have gone on long enough with no accountability. Rick Barron and Ralph Jones, Fulton’s registration chief, must be fired and removed from Fulton’s elections leadership immediately. Fulton’s voters and the people of Georgia deserve better.

— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) July 15, 2021

Last week, the judge overseeing the grand jury ordered that Giuliani must come to Fulton County to testify in person after his legal team argued that a recent medical procedure prohibited him from flying and requested that Giuliani be permitted to testify virtually.

The judge asked prosecutors to inform Giuliani’s legal team as to whether he was a subject of a criminal investigation or simply a witness, which at the time had not yet been revealed. Giuliani is set to testify on Wednesday.

Norman Eisen, a lawyer who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, told the New York Times, “There is no way Giuliani is a target of the D.A.’s investigation and Trump does not end up as one. They are simply too entangled factually and legally in the attempt to use fake electors and other means to overturn the Georgia election results.”

News that Giuliani is a target came the same day that U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May rejected Sen. Lindsay Graham’s (R-S.C.) argument against having to testify before Willis’ grand jury. The grand jury is seeking testimony concerning calls Graham made to Raffensperger following the 2020 election.

Graham claimed that the Constitution’s speech and debate clause shields him as a sitting U.S. Senator from having to testify about matters related to his legislative duties.

The judge’s order states that “individuals on the calls have publicly suggested that Senator Graham was not simply engaged in legislative fact-finding,” and that Graham was “seeking to influence Secretary Raffensperger’s actions.”

Graham intends to appeal the ruling. His attorneys said that prosecutors informed them that Graham is a witness, not a target, in the investigation.