(Washington) Rudy Giuliani, a leading lawyer representing Donald Trump in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, now faces charges of breaching professional ethics, the latest blow to his career following license suspensions in New York and the District of Columbia.
Posted at 3:16 p.m.
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the disciplinary arm of the District of Columbia Bar has filed suit against the former federal prosecutor and New York City mayor, alleging he sponsored unsubstantiated voter fraud allegations in Pennsylvania. The suit was filed June 6 and became public on Friday.
At issue are Mr. Giuliani’s claims to support a lawsuit by Mr. Trump’s campaign to overturn the Pennsylvania election results. That lawsuit, which sought to invalidate up to 1.5 million mail-in ballots, was dismissed by the courts.
The board’s office said Mr. Giuliani’s conduct violated Pennsylvania ethics rules “in that he commenced a lawsuit and therein asserted unsubstantiated non-frivolous issues in law and in done” to do so and “that he had engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
The board requested that the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Commission on Professional Responsibility be heard of the case. Mr. Giuliani has 20 days to respond, according to the filing. It was impossible to speak to a lawyer for Mr. Giuliani on Saturday.
The move is the latest against Mr Giuliani for his role in Donald Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.
Last June, an appeals court suspended him from practicing law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get the courts to overturn the incumbent president’s defeat. A lawyers’ disciplinary committee had asked the court to suspend his license on the grounds that he had breached rules of professional conduct by promoting theories that the election had been stolen by fraud.
The district bar temporarily suspended him last July, though the practical implication of that action is debatable, given that Mr. Giuliani’s Washington law license has been inactive since 2002.
The council’s new move follows the first public hearing of the House committee investigating the Capitol Riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Rudy Giuliani met with the committee for hours last month.