Trump Lawyer Giuliani’s Apartment Raided in Federal Probe

By Staff, Agencies

US media reported that Federal investigators raided the New York apartment of US President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani early Wednesday.

The federal steps comes as part of a probe into Trump’s alleged dealings in Ukraine.

Investigators with search warrants combed Giuliani's residence and a separate office, seizing electronic devices, The New York Times said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the investigation.

Giuliani, himself once a top New York prosecutor and then mayor of the city, was a personal lawyer for Trump when the president was impeached for seeking political help from Ukraine.

Giuliani spent months trying to help Trump find dirt on election rival Joe Biden in Ukraine, and on Biden's son Hunter, during 2018-2020.

The investigation reportedly involves Giuliani's work on behalf of Ukrainian businessmen and political actors that could violate US lobbying laws.

According to reports, the FBI and the Justice Department's prosecutor in New York had sought search warrants for Giuliani's phones last year, but were denied that while Trump remained in office, until January 20.

Under the new attorney general, Merrick Garland, in the administration of now-President Biden, the warrants were evidently approved.

The FBI and Justice Department declined to confirm the raids or the investigation.

The New York Times quoted Giuliani's own attorney, Robert Costello, as calling the raids Wednesday "legal thuggery."

“Why would you do this to anyone, let alone someone who was the associate attorney general, United States attorney, the mayor of New York City and the personal lawyer to the 45th president of the United States?" he asked.

Investigations of lawyers, especially those who represented a president, are highly sensitive, given protections they have for privileged dealings with clients.