Government

BREAKING: NY Bar Suspends Rudy Giuliani From Practicing Law For Spreading Election Disinformation

Yo, DC Bar, this is how's it's done!

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(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The New York Attorney Grievance Commission does not play. It just suspended Rudy Giuliani from practicing law citing “uncontroverted evidence that respondent communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020.”

The AGC didn’t even hold a hearing first. They just listed a pile of his lies, including to a federal judge in Pennsylvania, said he was bringing the profession into disrepute and using his authority as a member of the bar to mislead the public, and kicked him to the curb. Sorry, Grandpa, no more driving for you. Take it up with the DMV!

In a per curiam holding, a five justice panel of the Appellate Division detailed “uncontroverted evidence of professional misconduct,” including Giuliani’s numerous false public statements and erroneous claims about voter fraud, despite the fact that the fraud allegations had been excised from the complaint, during that disastrous Pennsylvania hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann.

The AGC cited multiple bizarre falsehoods, including Rudy’s oft-repeated canard about Joe Frazier continuing to vote in Pennsylvania, despite having died in November of 2011 and being removed from the polls three months later. As proof that he had not knowingly lied, Rudy drew the AGC’s attention to a rando blog post from 2019. Which, even if it were a reliable source of information — and it wasn’t — could not have been a source for Rudy’s allegation that the deceased boxer voted in 2020.

In fact, the president’s lawyer appears to have shown the same due diligence in defending his license to practice law as he did in flogging those bogus election claims, relying heavily on affidavits and confidential sources not supplied to the presiding justices to prove that he didn’t actually lie.

In opposition to this motion, respondent refers to affidavits he has not provided. He also relies on a “confidential informant”. We do not understand, nor does respondent explain why, as a private attorney seemingly unconnected to law enforcement he would have access to a “confidential informant” that we cannot also have access to. At yet another point respondent claims he relies on a Trump attorney who chooses not to be identified. Respondent also refers to hundreds of witnesses, experts, and investigative reports, none of which have been provided or identified and an Excel spreadsheet, also not provided, purportedly listing the names of thousands of deceased voters who allegedly cast ballots in Michigan. [Citations omitted.]

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Rudy’s secret Excel spreadsheet is so hot you wouldn’t believe it. But you don’t know her, she goes to another school. In Canada.

“Respondent cannot create a controverted issue of misconduct based upon what he does not submit to this Court,” the Justices responded drily, adding, “Nor will offers to provide information at a later time, or only if the Court requests it, suffice.”

They also point out that Giuliani cannot claim to have a valid belief in his own bullshit numbers when those numbers vary from hour to hour. In December, he claimed without evidence that 6,000 dead people had voted; by January that number had grown to 10,515, of whom 800 allegedly cast their zombie ballots in Georgia. Only two such fraudulent ballots were ever substantiated.

On December 17, he claimed that upwards of 10,000 undocumented immigrants voted illegally in Arizona. A week later he had revised his estimates upward, saying on his podcast “the bare minimum is 40 or 50,000, the reality is probably about 250,000.” By January, he was claiming 32,000.

When asked for evidence to support these wildly divergent claims, Giuliani claimed to have read “newspaper and records,” as well as information from Arizona State Senator Kelly Townsend. Naturally, no “newspaper and records” or affidavit from the Senator were ever provided.

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Citing the “risk that respondent will continue to engage in future misconduct while this disciplinary proceeding is pending,” and his continued peddling of election lies even after the complaint was filled, the AGC opted to immediately suspend Giuliani’s license to practice.

The hallmark of our democracy is predicated on free and fair elections. False statements intended to foment a loss of confidence in our elections and resulting loss of confidence in government generally damage the proper functioning of a free society. When those false statements are made by an attorney, it also erodes the public’s confidence in the integrity of attorneys admitted to our bar and damages the profession’s role as a crucial source of reliable information. It tarnishes the reputation of the entire legal profession and its mandate to act as a trusted and essential part of the machinery of justice. [Citations omitted.]

Just last week the DC Bar stuck its fingers in its ears and refused to even docket a complaint against Bill Barr lest they be accused of meddling in politics. But in New York?

Fuhgeddaboudit.

Elizabeth Dye (@5DollarFeminist) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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