Rudy Giuliani Arrives to Testify in Georgia 2020 Election Probe

Rudy Giuliani arrives at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Aug. 17, 2022. John Bazemore/AP Photo

Rudy Giuliani arrived at a courthouse in Atlanta on Aug. 17 to testify before a grand jury investigating possible election crimes.

Giuliani, who represented former President Donald Trump when the 2020 election took place, told reporters that he wouldn’t comment on the investigation until he knows more about it.

“They ask the questions, and we'll see,” he said before entering the courthouse.

Grand jury testimony is closed to the public and press.

Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, told media outlets this week that prosecutors informed him that Giuliani has become a target of the criminal probe into the 2020 election.

“I began this thing as a material witness, and I guess when they figured they weren’t going to sucker and bob me into violating the attorney-client privilege, they figured, OK, let’s make me a target, let’s indict him,” Giuliani told WABC radio on Aug. 16. “I was acting as an attorney through all of it.”

Costello said his client wouldn’t answer any questions that would violate attorney-client privilege.

Election Investigation

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, has been working with the grand jury to probe alleged attempts by Trump, Giuliani, and others to convince officials in Georgia to investigate possible fraud following Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

One focus of the probe is the call that Trump made to Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, in late 2020, asking Raffensperger to investigate. While Raffensperger’s investigator later found a number of issues in Fulton County, Raffensperger has said that the election results were accurate.

Willis noted in a petition for a subpoena for Giuliani that he was Trump’s personal attorney, as well as a lawyer for Trump’s 2020 campaign. He has “unique knowledge” concerning efforts to probe the election results, she said.

Giuliani’s testimony wouldn’t come unless he was subpoenaed, according to the petition.

Giuliani “is a necessary and material witness” to the grand jury investigation, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Christopher Brasher ruled in July, approving the petition.

Brasher also signed off on petitions to issue subpoenas for other Trump-linked figures, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jodi Hice (R-Ga.). Graham and others also have been ordered by judges to testify; Giuliani appears to be the first to sit for testimony.

“I'll do fine tomorrow. I’m kind of at home in a grand jury,” Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney, said on Aug. 16 on his radio show. “It’s not exactly foreign to me.”