WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani, a close ally of former President Donald Trump involved in efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election, received a subpoena to testify and provide documents to a federal grand jury in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The subpoena came from the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and was issued in early November, before Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith to oversee investigations into the former president and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
The person declined to say what information the subpoena sought from Giuliani or the status of his testimony. There have been no known sightings of Giuliani at the federal courthouse in Washington in recent weeks.
Giuliani was a chief architect of the Trump campaign’s unsuccessful legal challenges to President Joe Biden’s wins in key states. He’s featured in several investigations and legal proceedings related to the 2020 election. The former New York City mayor and Manhattan U.S. attorney appeared last August before a special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, in connection with the local district attorney’s probe into efforts to undermine election results in that state.
“Whenever you read a negative story featuring an, ‘anonymous source,’ it’s important to question the motives of said source — and this is true across the partisan political spectrum,” said Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s communications and political adviser. “The mayor is unaware of the specific claims by this so-called ‘anonymous source,’ and therefore is not in position to respond.”
Myron Marlin, a spokesperson for Smith’s office, declined to comment.
One of Giuliani’s lawyers previously said that the Fulton County district attorney’s office had informed them that Giuliani was a target of that probe, and not just a witness. A judge on Monday issued an order stating that the special grand jury had been dissolved. The grand jury, which didn’t have the authority to return indictments, submitted an as-yet-unreleased report with recommendations. No charges have been filed so far in connection with that investigation.
Meanwhile in Washington, a round of subpoenas that Smith’s office sent out following his appointment asked officials in 2020 battleground states for any records of communications with Trump, his campaign, or a list of 19 people who supported Trump’s post-election activities, including Giuliani.
Giuliani recently testified in his defense against a complaint filed by attorney discipline regulators in Washington. His law license is suspended in Washington pending the outcome of those proceedings as well as in New York. He’s also facing a defamation lawsuit from two Georgia election workers who were the subject of a false fraud conspiracy theory that Trump, Giuliani, and others promoted at the time.
