A house search at the home of Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani

The searches are all about Ukraine’s activities for the 76-year-old, according to US media. The electronic devices are also said to have been taken from the former New York mayor.

US investigators ransacked the apartment and office of former President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, in New York. The searches revolve around the activities of the 76-year-old Ukraine, reported Wednesday, among others, by The New York Times and CNN, citing informed circles. Accordingly, the former New York mayor’s electronic equipment was also confiscated, which is a very rare occurrence among attorneys.

According to the New York Times, the Federal Attorney General’s Office in New York and the FBI are investigating whether Giuliani was unlawfully lobbying on behalf of Ukrainian government officials and oligarchs in Washington in 2019. Meanwhile, Trump’s attorney was searching Ukraine for material incriminating Democrat Joe. Biden, who finally defeated Trump in the presidential election last November.

No approval under Trump

The FBI and the New York City Attorney’s Office reportedly tried to obtain search warrants on Giuliani’s phones last year. However, they did not get approval for this until the end of Trump’s term on January 20. Under the new US Attorney General Merrick Garland, it appears that the requests have now been accepted. Neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice wanted to comment on the searches.

Giuliani was In the Ukraine case, which led to the first impeachment proceedings against Trump in 2019 Led, she played an important role. Trump urged Ukraine’s head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, to help his campaign against his future rival Biden. Giuliani, Trump’s private attorney since April 2018, was a mediator for the US president and traveled to Ukraine.

After Trump’s election defeat, Giuliani led the president-elect’s efforts to challenge the election result. Giuliani, who was much revered in his time as mayor of New York City, caused an uproar with strange appearances and unproven allegations of election fraud. A voting machine manufacturer filed a lawsuit against the lawyer for $ 1.3 billion (about 1.1 billion euros) in damages for defamation.

(APA / AFP)