Judge slams Giuliani over arguments in fake electors case
Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Washington, Dec. 15, 2023. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana.
The judge overseeing the Arizona fake electors case on Tuesday flatly rejected efforts by Rudy Giuliani to disparage the grand jurors who indicted him as political actors solely chosen for their party affiliation.
In August, the former New York City mayor filed a motion in Maricopa County Superior Court seeking certain grand jury information premised on the idea the grand jurors themselves were, essentially, little more than members of a kangaroo court out to get him.
That argument was thoroughly rubbished by the court.
“The underlying claim that formulates the request is based upon pure speculation and abject conjecture,” Judge Bruce Cohen wrote in a two-page order. “He claims that there is concern that the grand jurors that served on the grand jury that indicted Defendant Giuliani were selected based upon their political party affiliation. Yet he alleges not one scintilla of information that would support this claim.”
In the Aug. 30, request, Giuliani’s defense sought disclosure of a large tranche of information on voters in the Grand Canyon State. The state replied on Sept. 26 and oral argument took place the next day.
Cohen nixed those asks for various reasons.
“At least some of the information he seeks is available through a public records request,” the judge observed. “Further, he seeks information that would be voluminous, including a voter jury list that would be in the millions of identified potential jurors. He also seeks underlying software to which he is not entitled.”
Giuliani and 17 other co-defendants are named in a six-count indictment handed up by grand jurors in late April.
Prosecutors allege multiple felonies were committed in service of a failed effort — by many of Donald Trump’s closest allies, advisers and stalwarts — to submit a slate of fake, or “alternate,” electors who were prepared to deny President Joe Biden the Electoral College votes he won in the state during the 2020 election. Similar efforts took place in multiple states where Trump lost by solid but narrow margins.
Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, is likely well acquainted with how grand juries are empaneled by law enforcement.
In his order, Cohen describes how the defense’s allegations of political bias are, necessarily, nonsensical in the present case.
“The court further notes that the 93rd Grand Jury, who indicted Defendant Giuliani, was empaneled well before this matter was ready for presentation to the grand jury,” the judge goes on. “This was not a special grand jury to address the charges brought against these various defendants. Rather, it was a sitting grand jury who was not selected for this case or any other specific case. There is therefore no reliable information to suggest that the empaneling of this grand jury occurred in contemplation of this case or with a political agenda in mind.”
The judge also notes that Giuliani “supplied no information to suggest that the master jury list contained any information other than as directed under” Arizona state law.
Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to the Arizona charges, which his adviser and spokesperson Ted Goodman has called an attempt to “interfere with the 2024 election and to take down President Trump and anyone willing to take on the permanent Washington political class.”
Matt Nahan contributed to this report.
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