WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani, the disgraced former New York City mayor who tried to overturn former President Donald Trump’s election loss, was disbarred in New York state on Tuesday, a new blow to the team that spread lies about massive voter fraud after Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
Giuliani, who faces charges in Georgia and Arizona and is an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal election interference case brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith, had no “good faith basis” to believe the falsehoods he spread about the election, according to an order issued Tuesday. Some of the false statements cited by a New York appeals court were comments Giuliani made at a post-election news conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping that took place around the same time some news outlets reported the election was in Biden’s favor.
“These false statements were made to improperly bolster the defendant’s narrative that, due to widespread voter fraud, victory in the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen from his client,” a New York appeals court ruling reads.
The repercussions of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election on Giuliani are arguably far greater than those on Trump himself. He also faces possible disbarment from the Washington Bar Association, where the Washington Bar Association’s Council on Professional Responsibility recently recommended his disbarment.
In May, Giuliani was suspended by WABC radio and his show was canceled for continuing to make false claims about the 2020 election, which could have potentially exposed the station to legal liability.
Two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, were awarded $148 million by a jury after a federal judge found Giuliani liable for false allegations of voter fraud that he leveled against them, with no basis in fact. Based on surveillance video that sparked online conspiracy theories, Giuliani falsely accused the mother-daughter duo of passing around USB drives “like vials of heroin or cocaine,” when in fact they were passing around a ginger mint. The allegations sparked a wave of racist attacks and threats against the couple.
During the New York disciplinary case, Giuliani stipulated that there were not, in fact, several thousand votes cast in the names of deceased people in Philadelphia during the 2020 election, as he had previously falsely claimed. The arbitrator overseeing the proceedings, the order notes, concluded that “16 acts of falsehood committed” by Giuliani “were willful and constituted a transparent pattern of conduct intended and designed to deceive.”
The decision also accuses Giuliani of attempting to mislead officials during the disciplinary process.
“Mr. Giuliani is obviously disappointed by the decision,” a lawyer for Giuliani said in a statement. “We are considering our options on appeal.”
