ATLANTA — Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, is aiming to delay his testimony before a Fulton County special grand jury examining Georgia’s 2020 elections.
A new court filing shows that Giuliani will challenge his subpoena, technically known as a certificate of material witness, at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday in front of Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. That’s roughly the same time he’s slated to testify before the 23-person special grand jury.
It was not immediately clear why Giuliani was seeking the delay, though he’ll need to explain that to McBurney. Giuliani’s attorney, Robert J. Costello, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Giuliani was ordered to testify last month by New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber after he failed to show at a July 13 hearing in which he was scheduled to argue why the court shouldn’t honor the Georgia subpoena.
Farber wrote that Giuliani was required to appear before the Fulton grand jury beginning on Aug. 9, “and on any such other dates as this Court may order.”
Neither Giuliani nor Costello has commented on Farber’s order or the original subpoena since they were issued.
McBurney signed off on Giuliani’s subpoena in early July, noting the former New York City mayor was “a necessary and material witness” to the criminal investigation, which is examining whether Trump or his allies committed any state crimes when they tried to overturn Georgia’s 2020 elections. It was one of a half-dozen subpoenas aimed at compelling the testimony of Trump’s top allies and legal advisers.
Giuliani could ultimately try to cite attorney-client or executive privilege to avoid answering questions from jurors or prosecutors.
The grand jury has indicated it’s interested in testimony Giuliani gave before Georgia legislators in three separate hearings in late 2020. Giuliani showed legislators edited surveillance video of ballots being tabulated at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, which he described as a “powerful smoking gun” showing widespread election fraud.
Giuliani’s claims were quickly debunked by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, but he continued to share the video and doubled down on his comments in the weeks after. He was later suspended from practicing law in New York, in part because of his testimony in Georgia.
His subpoena says there’s evidence that Giuliani was “part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”
Giuliani was also reportedly a central figure in the Trump campaign’s quest to appoint a slate of “alternate” Republican electors in swing states that Joe Biden won, another area of interest to the special grand jury.
Giuliani also called Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, in late 2020. Ralston testified before the special grand jury last month.
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