New York:
Former US leader Donald Trump complained Thursday that an FBI raid on his ex-private lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s home was “so unfair,” as President Joe Biden defended the integrity of the investigation, saying he had not been involved in the move against New York’s one-time mayor.
Under Trump’s turbulent presidency, he often accused US government institutions of playing political favorites but also utilized the energy of his workplace to attempt to bend them to his will.
In this case, federal investigators with search warrants combed Giuliani’s Manhattan residence and a separate workplace on Wednesday, seizing electronic devices as element of a probe into his dealings in Ukraine.
“Rudy Giuliani is a great patriot. He just loves this country, and they raid his apartment,” Trump told Fox Business.
“It’s very, very unfair. Rudy is a patriot who loves this country, and I don’t know what they’re looking for, what they’re doing.”
Giuliani’s son Andrew Giuliani condemned the raid and accused the Justice Department of a political agenda. But Biden told NBC he had not even been warned a warrant had been obtained.
“I made a pledge I would not interfere in any way, order or try to stop any investigation the Justice Department had… I had no idea this was underway,” he stated.
“This last administration politicized the justice department so badly,” he added.
Giuliani legal woes
Giuliani, himself when a major New York prosecutor and ahead of becoming a celebrated mayor of the city, was a private lawyer for Trump when the president was impeached in December 2019 for looking for political assistance from Ukraine.
Giuliani spent months attempting to assistance Trump discover dirt in Ukraine on election rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter, throughout 2018-2020.
But the investigation behind Wednesday’s raid could be honing in on Giuliani undertaking paid work for Ukrainian businessmen at the identical time, violating US laws against unregistered lobbying for foreign entities.
Two Ukrainian-born males, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who helped Giuliani in these efforts, have been arrested in October 2019 and charged with illegally funneling substantial donations to a pro-Trump fundraising committee.
According to reports, the FBI and the Justice Department’s prosecutor in New York had sought search warrants for Giuliani’s phones last year, but have been denied that whilst Trump remained in workplace, till January 20.
The FBI and Justice Department have declined to comment on the raids or the investigation.
Giuliani has other legal woes also. In January he was sued by a voting machine maker for $1.3 billion for spreading claims just after the November presidential election that its machines have been element of alleged huge voting fraud that triggered Trump’s loss.
No considerable fraud has been demonstrated in the election.
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