On Monday, disgraced attorney Rudy Giuliani, whose law license was suspended in Washington, D.C. over his “frivolous” election lawsuit in Pennsylvania, had his debut as a witness in his own disciplinary hearing, and it didn’t take long for the former mayor to trip over his own words.
During the proceedings, Giuliani testified that former President Donald Trump tapped him to lead his litigation blitz the day after Election Day, depicting that effort as scattershot and disorganized.
“I showed up with a small group of lawyers that I put together quickly,” Giuliani said, Law and Crime reported.
During the hearing, D.C. disciplinary counsel Hamilton Fox accused Giuliani of “weaponizing his law license” against the Constitution that he took an oath to uphold.
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Initially, Giuliani avoided a direct answer to the question of whether he was responsible for writing the draft complaints.
Asked whether he co-authored the initial draft of the complaint in the Pennsylvania litigation, Giuliani avoided a direct answer and pivoted to something else, prompting Fox to colorfully characterize Giuliani’s answers as evasive.
“I’m asking you what time it is, and you’re telling me how to make a watch,” Fox told Giuliani.
“Will you let me finish my answer?” Giuliani asked. “I let you finish your question.”
At that point, the Board’s Chair Robert Bernius reminded Giuliani about his role as a witness, not an “advocate.”
When Giuliani denied having been responsible for the first draft, the disciplinary counsel confronted the former mayor with a transcript from a taped deposition in which he said the opposite.
Giuliani later blamed his responses on his experiences in the past few years.
“I believe that I’ve been persecuted for three or four years, including false charges brought against me by the federal government,” Giuliani said, referring to the search warrant on his home on suspicion of illegal foreign lobbying, according to Law and Crime.
Giuliani’s testimony will resume on Tuesday.
