Warrant executed on Guiliani
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Federal investigators in Manhattan executed search warrants early Wednesday at the home and office of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became President Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the investigation said.
The investigators seized Mr. Giuliani’s electronic devices and searched his Madison Avenue apartment and his Park Avenue office at about 6 a.m., two of the people said.
The execution of search warrants is an extraordinary action for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president. It was a major development in the long-running investigation into Mr. Giuliani and a remarkable moment in his long arc as a public figure.
Under Mr. Trump, senior political appointees in the Justice Department repeatedly sought to block such a warrant, The New York Times reported, slowing the investigation as it was gaining momentum last year. After Merrick B. Garland was confirmed as Mr. Biden’s attorney general, the Justice Department lifted its objection to the search.
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When you shake someone's deep sense of self-worth, leaving a scar in their ego, they will persistently try to diminish you through petty arguments & obsessive captious criticism of your actions, just to soothe the wound.
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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I’m not ready to place any bets, his buffoonery aside.
He has already responded to the raid.
https://nypost.com/2021/04/28/rudy-giuliani-responds-to-feds-raiding-his-nyc-apartment/
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Guy must be sweating gallons of hair dye over this.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@george-k said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
I wonder if The Big Guy approved it, or it was just the AG.
I think they just got out of the way. Apparently they were close to doing this during the last administration but the White House and AG kept blocking it.
When you shake someone's deep sense of self-worth, leaving a scar in their ego, they will persistently try to diminish you through petty arguments & obsessive captious criticism of your actions, just to soothe the wound.
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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@jon-nyc said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
@george-k said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
I wonder if The Big Guy approved it, or it was just the AG.
I think they just got out of the way. Apparently they were close to doing this during the last administration but the White House and AG kept blocking it.
Wouldn't that be obstruction of justice? If so, charge the bastards.
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@xenon said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
The investigators seized Mr. Giuliani’s electronic devices and searched his Madison Avenue apartment and his Park Avenue office at about 6 a.m., two of the people said.
Apparently the investigators picked up a copy of Hunter Biden's hard drive that was in Mr. Giuliani's possession, then put it down and left it when they were informed what it was.
I guess it is radioactive.
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@mark said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
@jon-nyc said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
@george-k said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
I wonder if The Big Guy approved it, or it was just the AG.
I think they just got out of the way. Apparently they were close to doing this during the last administration but the White House and AG kept blocking it.
Wouldn't that be obstruction of justice? If so, charge the bastards.
I think they slowed it down using existing and legal administrative procedures.
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@copper said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
Apparently the investigators picked up a copy of Hunter Biden's hard drive that was in Mr. Giuliani's possession, then put it down and left it when they were informed what it was.
Maybe since they've had it for two years already?
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@george-k said in Warrant executed on Guiliani:
I wonder if The Big Guy approved it, or it was just the AG.
The Big Guy. No way the AG signed off on this one by himself.
There better be a there, there. Paybacks are hell.
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Trump thinks it's unfair.
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I have been a long critic of Rudy Giuliani going back years, including interviews and press conferences that I have condemned for making unsupported statements (as well as comments inimical to his client’s interest). However, Giuliani may have a valid point. The Biden Administration sent FBI agents to raid his home and other lawyers to seize “electronic devices.” According to Giuliani, this included computers and cell phones containing electronic files. However, the agents reportedly refused to take hard drives that Giuliani said contained material related to Hunter Biden, the son of our President. If the warrant did call for the seizure of computer and electronic devices, that makes no sense at all, particularly in accepting the word of the target of the search as to the contents of the devices. As a defense attorney, I often question the scope of seizures in such searches as excessive or overly broad. I have never run into a search where agents refused to take evidence that is ordinarily defined within the scope of the warrant. We have yet to see the warrant itself but this is a curious omission given the seizure of computers.
However, it is this statement that stuck out for me:
“At the end of the search, when they had taken about, I would say, seven or eight electronic items of mine … they weren’t taking the three hard drives, which of course, are electronic devices. They just mimic the computer. I said, ‘Well, don’t you want these?’ And they said, ‘What are they? I said, ‘Those are Hunter Biden’s hard drives. And they said ‘no, no, no.”
On one hand, the FBI could argue that they already have that evidence because the laptop was previously seized. However, how do they know that hard drives contained the same information? The search warrant was premised on the claim that Giuliani was a risk for evidence destruction. Yet, the agents took his word for what was on the devices? For all the agents knew, Giuliani could have taken all of his incriminating FARA evidence and just slapped a “Hunter Biden Stuff” label on the outside.
Another explanation could be that the search warrant was narrowly written. The Justice Department could exclude hard drives out of concern for privileged communications. However, I have not seen that type of limitations in prior searches. In prior cases, the Justice Department minimizes such searches through filtering teams as opposed to leaving some storage devices. It would also make no sense since the current cellphones or laptops may not have records from the critical period. Moreover, the agents could claim that the search warrant is limited to Giuliani’s records, not those of clients or third parties. However, how would they know what was on the hard drives?
It is also possible that the FBI could say that Giuliani is lying and there was no such hard drives offered. Yet, if that were the case, one would expect the agents to return for the claimed hard drives missed in the prior search.
I have previously written about the Hunter Biden laptop and the virtual news blackout of the story, including the strikingly reluctant coverage after the release of his book. I frankly do not see why the FBI would reluctant to have this evidence since it is likely duplicative of evidence already held by prosecutors. I am not assuming that this was an effort to protect Biden. I am just honestly confused by the decision of the agents if this warrant did call for the seizure of electronic devices and material.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
