Disciplinary panel calls for Rudy Giuliani’s disbarment
A Washington, D.C.-based bar discipline committee concluded Friday that Rudy Giuliani should be disbarred for “frivolous” and “destructive” efforts to derail the 2020 presidential election in support of former President Donald Trump.
“He claimed massive election fraud but had no evidence of it,” the three-member panel declared in a 38-page decision. “By prosecuting that destructive case Mr. Giuliani, a sworn officer of the Court, forfeited his right to practice law.”
The committee, comprised of D.C. attorneys tasked with reviewing Giuliani’s conduct, deliberated for months after a weeks-long series of hearings that featured testimony from Giuliani and several of his close associates. Trump waived attorney-client privilege to permit Giuliani to discuss the matters as well.
Giuliani plans to challenge the panel’s findings and recommended sanction in front of a larger bar-discipline board. His ultimate disbarment or other penalty would be decided by the D.C. Court of Appeals.
“We are obviously disappointed by the Committee's decision but look forward to filing a vigorous appeal,” said Barry Kamins, one of Giuliani’s attorneys in the bar proceedings.
A spokesperson for the former New York City mayor assailed the panel.
“The decision-makers at the DC Bar Association are nothing more than an arm of the permanent regime in Washington,” said Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani. “This is also part of an effort to deny President Trump effective counsel by persecuting Rudy Giuliani—objectively one of the most effective prosecutors in American history. I call on rank-and-file members of the DC Bar Association to speak out against this great injustice.”
In 2021, a state court in New York suspended his right to practice law in that state, citing his actions in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. No final disbarment order against Giuliani has been entered in New York, but bar discipline proceedings in that state are notoriously opaque.
Giuliani, who came to national prominence as mayor of New York City during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, earlier served as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and as a top official in the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan.
The D.C. disciplinary panel contended that Giuliani’s efforts to aid Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election overshadowed the renowned prosecutor and mayor’s prior record.
“The misconduct here sadly transcends all his past accomplishments,” they concluded. “It was unparalleled in its destructive purpose and effect. He sought to disrupt a presidential election and persists in his refusal to acknowledge the wrong he has done.”
The panel that issued the recommendation Friday consists of two D.C. lawyers, Robert Bernius and Jay Brozost, and one public member, Carolyn Haynesworth-Murrell. No member noted any dissent to the hearing committee’s findings or call for Giuliani’s disbarment.