Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani responds to his indictment by Georgia grand jury
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was indicted Monday night, along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others, related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, according to multiple sources.
Giuliani is accused of being at the center of the scheme and helping Trump push lies about the 2020 election. He is charged with 13 criminal counts, accused of soliciting public officials to violate their oaths of office, and making false statements, including one falsely accusing Black election workers of fraud.
Giuliani released a statement on the indictment early Tuesday morning.
"This is an affront to American Democracy and does permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system. It's just the next chapter in a book of lies with the purpose of framing President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime. They lied about Russian collusion, they lied about Joe Biden's foreign bribery scheme, and they lied about Hunter Biden's laptop hard drive proving 30 years of criminal activity. The real criminals here are the people who have brought this case forward both directly and indirectly."
Giuliani now admits the poll workers were innocent but says that he was just doing his job.
"I'm indicted for being his (Trump) lawyer. I never thought I'd get indicted for being a lawyer," he said. "I thought I was protected by the fact that I was defending him. I'm supposed to argue in his favor."
The indictment was handed down following a two-and-a-half-year investigation. Giuliani, who pioneered the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, act, to take down the mafia, was indicted on RICO charges.
Aside from Giuliani, who served as Trump's personal attorney, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and a Trump administration Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, who advanced his efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia, were also named defendants.
In addition to the 19 defendants listed in the indictment, as many as 30 unindicted co-conspirators were involved in the criminal scheme, according to prosecutors.
"The Defendants, as well as others not named as defendants, unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in a criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere," the indictment says.
The indictment says "several" of the defendants made false statements to Georgia officials, including the secretary of state and Speaker of the House of Representatives, and "corruptly solicited (them) ... to violate their oaths to the Georgia Constitution and to the United States Constitution by unlawfully changing the outcomes of the November 3, 2020, presidential election in favor of Donald Trump."
If former President Donald Trump is charged, it would mark the fourth indictment of the former president, who already faces federal charges in the special counsel's Jan. 6 and classified documents probes, as well as the Manhattan DA's hush money case. Prior to Trump, no former or current president had ever been indicted.
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