Referring to his role in a ‘violent uprising in the US capital’, the chairman of the New York State Senate’s Legal Affairs Committee on Monday made a formal request to the state court system to begin the process of appointing President Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W., to be deprived. Giuliani, of his legal license.
Senator Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, said Giuliani apparently committed several ethical violations in his efforts to support Trump’s unfounded allegations of fraud during the presidential election.
These efforts culminated on Wednesday when Mr. Giuliani a crowd of supporters of mr. Trump addressed, and repeated, the president’s unproven allegations of electoral fraud, apparently trying to lead people to violence. After Mr. Giuliani and the president spoke, members of the crowd marched to the Capitol and an angry crowd looted the building.
“If we are wrong, we will be made fools, but if we are right, many of them will go to jail,” he said. Giuliani said. “Let’s we fight with a fight.”
Mr. Hoylman said in a letter to the grievance committee of the appeals division’s first department that the assault on the Capitol ‘was the predictable culmination of increasingly outrageous lies and disinformation provided by Mr. Giuliani was thrown ‘and others.
“The codes of ethics that we as lawyers swear to uphold are intended to protect the public and the reputation of the profession itself,” he wrote. “The failure to hold a member of our ranks responsible for inciting acts and admonitions of violence is a failure to provide the guarantee.”
The call for mr. Giuliani’s disillusionment comes just hours after the New York State Bar Association announced it was conducting a ‘historic’ investigation into Mr. Giuliani launched, which could lead to the removal of the group.
In a prepared statement issued Monday, association president Scott M. Karson said his decision to begin the investigation stemmed from hundreds of complaints the group had received about Mr. Giuliani’s central role in Trump’s efforts to overturn the results. of the election.
The Bar Association has no power to sue Mr. Not to strip Giuliani of his legal license. But should the highly unusual investigation by his peers lead to the removal of the group, it would be a dark stain on a career that spanned more than 40 years in law. A spokesman for the group said it had not removed anyone who had not been banned since 1904.
The by-laws of the association prohibit members from advocating, among other things, ‘the overthrow of the government’, and in his statement, Mr. Karson said Giuliani’s words in Washington last week were ‘clearly intended to encourage Trump supporters who are unhappy with the outcome of the election. to take matters into their own hands. ”
“The subsequent attack on the Capitol was nothing more than an attempted coup,” Karson wrote, “intended to prevent the peaceful transition of power.”
Mr. Giuliani, who did not respond to requests for comment, added the charges against him to his radio program this afternoon.
“I’ve been a prosecutor all my life – I’m not stupid,” he said. “I do not want to get into trouble. And I personally have a high ethical feeling. I hate it when people attack my integrity. ”
The investigation was just the latest example of attempts to retaliate against advocates who supported Trump’s push to stay in power. Last week, for example, Dominion Voting Systems sued the president’s former lawyer, Sidney Powell, over defamation, claiming she had a ” viral disinformation campaign ” about the role his machines played in the election.