Giuliani Says He's Working on Impeachment Defense

The Trump campaign says no decisions have been made regarding legal representation
By Luke Roney,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 17, 2021 5:09 PM CST
Giuliani Says He's Working on Impeachment Defense
Rudy Giuliani   (Mike Mulholland/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

Despite reports that he’s on the outs with President Trump, Rudy Giuliani says he’s gearing up to defend the president in his historic second impeachment trial allegeding that he incited insurrection in Washington DC during a Jan. 6 rally. “I'm involved right now,” Giuliani told ABC News on Saturday. “that's what I'm working on.” Giuliani, who has been at the forefront of trying to overturn Trump’s reelection loss based on unfounded claims of fraud, was seen at the White House later that day, per the network. On Sunday, however, Trump campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley tweeted that "President Trump has not yet made a determination as to which lawyer or law firm will represent him,” the New York Post reports. Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, has been one of the president’s most vociferous supporters. Recently though, according to accounts, the relationship between the two have soured, with Trump reportedly instructing aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees.

Such a rift notwithstanding, Trump may have limited options for legal representation. Lawyers who have represented him in the past are opting out this time around, Bloomberg reports. “I’m not terribly surprised that top tier conservative attorneys who a Republican president might normally turn to would not be interested in jumping on this particular grenade,” a Princeton University politics professor tells the outlet. Giuliani told ABC that there are “different opinions” about how to approach the second impeachment trial, but that his approach is to prove that the baseless claims of election fraud are true, despite being repeatedly rejected by courts and by officials. “If you can prove that it's true, or at least true enough so it's a legitimate viewpoint, then they are no longer fighting words,” he said. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, GOP strategist Karl Rove offered a stark prediction: “If it’s the Rudy Giuliani defense, there’s a strong likelihood” that enough Republican senators will vote to convict the Trump. (More Trump impeachment stories.)

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