Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday he “never ever represented any foreign national” after the FBI raided his apartment and seized his electronic devices earlier this week.
Giuliani, who served as former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, has reportedly been eyed by federal authorities over whether he illegally lobbied the previous administration in 2019 on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs while searching for damaging information on Trump’s political rivals, including President Joe Biden, then the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
He told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday that seven FBI agents knocked on his door at 6 a.m. on Wednesday serving a warrant for electronics, adding he told federal agents: “This is extraordinary because I’ve offered to give these to the government and talk it over them for two years.”
“I could have destroyed the evidence years ago,” Giuliani said, but he claimed that he didn’t because the evidence is “exculpatory” and proves himself, Trump, and “all of us are innocent.”
FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS EXECUTE SEARCH WARRANT AT GIULIANI’S MANHATTAN APARTMENT
At one point during the interview, Giuliani claimed the only way federal agents can obtain a search warrant is if evidence can be shown that a person is going to destroy or run away with evidence, a comment which drew condemnation and mockery from legal experts.
Before becoming New York City mayor, Giuliani was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the same office that is investigating him.
FBI agents also executed a search warrant on Wednesday at the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing, a former federal prosecutor and wife to ex-U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova, both of whom are close to Giuliani and have had dealings with Ukrainians who have sought damaging information about the Bidens.
Rudy Giuliani joins @TuckerCarlson for his first TV interview since FBI raid. pic.twitter.com/ooMhivzsZt
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) April 30, 2021
A statement was also released by diGenova & Toensing, which is the law firm for the conservative husband-and-wife legal duo diGenova and Toensing. “Ms. Toensing is a former federal prosecutor and Senior Justice Department Official. She has always conducted herself and her law practice according to the highest legal standards. She would have been happy to turn over any relevant documents. All they had to do was ask. Ms. Toensing was informed that she is NOT a target of the investigation,” the statement said.
The former mayor said federal agents took up to eight electronic devices in his possession, including two devices that belonged to someone else. Giuliani offered the agents three copies of a hard drive that he said was from the laptop of Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, but he claimed agents declined to take those items.
Hunter Biden has attracted scrutiny for years by Republicans and conservative media for his foreign business ventures and for his ambivalence about whether a laptop and hard drive, which were left at a Delaware repair shop and later seized by the FBI, belonged to him as he faces a federal investigation into his tax affairs. In recent weeks, the younger Biden has said he has no idea if the laptop belonged to him but did acknowledge it was possible.
Following Giuliani’s interview on Fox News, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe spoke to CNN about the attorney’s claims, suggesting the hard drive material tied to Hunter Biden should be included in the subpoena of his electronic devices.
“It’s certainly possible that the parameters of this search warrant might not have included Hunter Biden’s hard drives or anybody else’s hard drives other than Rudy Giuliani’s,” McCabe said, adding he would rather “get that right from the agents.”
Giuliani also made allegations about the Justice Department, focusing on a time when it was run by Attorney General William Barr under the Trump administration and claiming the agency secretly obtained access to his iCloud account.
“The DOJ told my lawyer they secretly went into my iCloud account in 2019. Who else are they spying on? You?” he said in one tweet.
“The DOJ in late 2019 covertly obtained access to my iCloud and never notified me. They invaded the attorney client relationship as we were defending against the phony impeachment. These prosecutors violated the laws, not me. If again, nothing is done, you could be next,” he said in another tweet.
The DOJ told my lawyer they secretly went into my iCloud account in 2019.
Who else are they spying on? You?
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) April 30, 2021
The DOJ in late 2019 covertly obtained access to my iCloud and never notified me.
They invaded the attorney client relationship as we were defending against the phony impeachment.
These prosecutors violated the laws, not me.
If again, nothing is done, you could be next.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) April 30, 2021
Giuliani began serving as Trump’s personal lawyer during the Russia investigation and worked for the 45th president through the Ukraine impeachment saga and 2020 election challenges.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to the FBI, the Justice Department, and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York but did not immediately receive a response.
