D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility Recommends Disbarring Giuliani

WASHINGTON -- The District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility is recommending that Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and personal attorney to Donald Trump, lose his law license in Washington.

The main issue is Giuliani’s use of legal procedures to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election that gave the victory to Joe Biden.

Giuliani filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania seeking a court judgment saying the narrow victory for Biden in the state was tainted by election fraud. Part of his allegations were against mail-in ballots, which he said were forged.

The Pennsylvania lawsuit, along with others filed by Trump lawyers, was dismissed for lack of evidence. The dismissal was upheld on appeal.

The Board on Professional Responsibility said Giuliani weaponized his law license to interfere with the election in a way that violated the Rules of Professional Conduct. The rules forbid? “frivolous litigation.”

“We conclude that disbarment is the only sanction that will protect the public, the courts and the integrity of the legal profession, and deter other lawyers from launching similarly baseless claims in the pursuit of such wide-ranging yet completely unjustified relief,” the board’s 62-page decision said.

The board also said Giuliani lacked “objectively reliable evidence” for his claims that would have canceled hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania votes if a judge had agreed.

As evidence mounted that Giuliani’s assertions of election fraud were frivolous, he blamed other attorneys with whom he worked. He said he did not have enough time to investigate the allegations thoroughly before the lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania.

He also said the Board on Professional Responsibility’s disciplinary action was politically motivated rather than based on merits of the evidence.

The board’s recommendation now goes to the D.C. Court of Appeals for final disposition. Giuliani has been licensed by the D.C. Bar since 1976.

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