US state of Georgia: investigations into Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Atlanta

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A lawsuit against Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani is being investigated for his attempts to subsequently influence the outcome of the election in Trump's favour

Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP

According to media reports, the attorney for former US President Donald Trump, Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani, is being criminally investigated in connection with the 2020 US election.

As reported by the New York Times and CNN, Giuliani's lawyers learned on Monday that this is the target of the investigation in the US state of Georgia.

The investigation is about a possible influence on the last presidential election by Trump and his camp.

Georgia was one of the states where US President Joe Biden won the majority of the vote.

To this day, Trump maintains the long-disproven claim that he was deprived of victory through fraud.

For weeks he and his allies used questionable methods to subsequently overturn Biden's election victory - Giuliani was one of the central figures.

Trump's camp failed with dozens of lawsuits against the election results.

Trump continues to incorrectly claim that he received the majority of the vote in Georgia.

Speaking before the Georgia state legislature in December 2020, Giuliani repeated false conspiracy theories about stolen ballots and urged politicians not to confirm Biden's election victory in the state.

Trump urged Georgia's top election official to 'find' votes

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched an investigation last year.

The background is a phone call between Trump and Georgia's chief election supervisor, Brad Raffensperger.

Trump had asked Raffensperger in the conversation to "find" the missing votes in order to subsequently turn the narrow election victory of his opponent Biden in Trump's favor.

Several allies of the ex-president have been asked to testify before a jury that has now been set up.

The New York Times reported that Giuliani was scheduled to testify Wednesday before a grand jury in Georgia's capital, Atlanta, in Fulton County.

Giuliani's attorney, Robert Costello, said his client would invoke attorney-client privilege if he was asked questions about his talks with Trump, according to the report.

"If these people think he's going to talk about talks between him and President Trump, they're delusional."

Giuliani is a former district attorney and served as mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.

He is among several Trump allies who have been asked to testify before a now-installed jury.

Among them is US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina.

Willis did not rule out summoning Trump on NBC in July.

jso/Reuters