A search was conducted on Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan apartment as part of an investigation into whether he broke lobbying laws when he was the personal lawyer of former President Donald J. Trump.
Investigators searched Rudolph Giuliani's home Wednesday morning in the latest development in the criminal investigation into his alleged dealings with Ukraine, according to reports.
F.B.I. agents seized his cellphones and computers from his Upper East Side apartment at 6 a.m. yesterday, the New York Times reported.
Giuliani has long been a public figure, once serving as the former mayor of New York City and then a personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump.
Giuliani may have illegally been involved in communications between him and several Ukrainian officials, according to reports. The main focus of the investigation is determining whether Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump administration in 2019 on behalf of Ukrainian officials, to dig up dirt on the Biden family, the Times reported.
Giuliani has previously denied any wrongdoing
Giuliani's lawyer, Robert Costello, told the Times the searches were "unnecessary," adding that his client offered to answer prosecutors' questions.
"What they did today was legal thuggery," he said. Costello also said Giuliani's conduct was "lawful" and claimed that the justice department was engaged in a "corrupt double standard" in which he claimed they targeted support of Donald Trump but ignored what he described as "blatant crimes" by Democrats.
Searches were also conducted on other individuals who worked closely with Giuliani, according to reports. These search warrants demonstrate the aggressive steps investigators are taking to uncover any possible wrongdoing.
President Joe Biden told "Today" show co-anchor Craig Melvin that he was not briefed in advance about search warrants executed at Giuliani's home, NBC reported.
"I learned about that last night when the rest of the world learned about it."
