Giuliani faces DC Bar ethics charges over Pa. voter fraud claims
WASHINGTON — Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s primary lawyers during the then-president’s failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, must now answer to professional ethics charges, the latest career slap after law license suspensions in New York and the District of Columbia.
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the disciplinary branch of the District of Columbia Bar, filed the charges against the former federal prosecutor and New York mayor alleging that he promoted unsubstantiated voter fraud claims in Pennsylvania.
The action, which was filed June 6, became public on Friday.
At issue are claims Giuliani made in supporting a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania. That suit, which sought to invalidate as many as 1.5 million mail-in ballots, was dismissed by courts.
The counsel’s office said Giuliani’s conduct violated Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct “in that he brought a proceeding and asserted issues therein without a non-frivolous basis in law and fact for doing so” and “that he engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.”
The counsel asked that the D.C. Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility take up the matter. Giuliani has 20 days to respond, according to the filing. An attempt Saturday to reach a lawyer for Giuliani was unsuccessful.
The step is the latest against Giuliani for his role in Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.
Last June, an appeals court suspended him from practicing law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Trump’s loss. An attorney disciplinary committee had asked the court to suspend his license on the grounds that he had violated professional conduct rules as he promoted theories that the election was stolen through fraud.
The D.C. Bar temporarily suspended him last July although the practical implication of that action is questionable, given that Giuliani’s law license in Washington has been inactive since 2002.
Nicaragua-Russia pact: The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has authorized Russian troops, planes and ships to deploy to Nicaragua for purposes of training, law enforcement or emergency response.
In a decree published last week, and later confirmed by Russia, Ortega will allow Russian troops to carry out law enforcement duties, “humanitarian aid, rescue and search missions in emergencies or natural disasters.”
The Nicaraguan government also authorized the presence of small contingents of Russian troops for “exchange of experiences and training.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told the Russian news outlet Sputnik that the measure was “routine.”
“We are talking about a routine — twice a year — procedure for the adoption of a Nicaraguan law on the temporary admission of foreign military personnel to its territory in order to develop cooperation in various areas, including humanitarian and emergency responses, combatting organized crime and drug trafficking,” Zakharova said.
Bolivian ex-president:
Former Bolivian interim President Jeanine Áñez was sentenced to 10 years in prison late Friday on charges linked to her assumption of office in 2019 amid violent protests that led to the resignation and exile of her predecessor, Evo Morales.
Áñez was convicted by the court of dereliction of duty and acting against the constitution when she proclaimed herself president in what Morales and his party have called a coup.
Áñez’s supporters deny it was a coup, saying Morales’ alleged abuse of power triggered a legitimate uprising in the streets.
The ouster of Bolivia’s first Indigenous president and his vice president created a power vacuum that allowed Áñez to assume the interim presidency as second president of the Senate, they claim. The defense said she will appeal the decision.
“I did not lift a finger to become president, but I did what I had to do to pacify
a country that Morales left convulsed as he fled,” Áñez said from the prison where she is being held.
Morales stepped down following nationwide protests over suspected vote-rigging in an Oct. 20 election, which he claimed to have won to gain a fourth term in office.
Italy helicopter crash: Italian rescuers on Saturday located the bodies of seven people, including four Turkish and two Lebanese businessmen, who died when their helicopter crashed in a heavily forested, mountainous area in north-central Italy during a storm, authorities said.
Italian air force Col. Alfonso Cipriano said rescuers were tipped off to the crash site after a mountain runner reported seeing what he thought was a part of the mangled chopper Saturday morning on Mount Cusna.
Ground crews initially located five bodies, and then
the other two, Cipriano said.
UK deportation plan: A British newspaper says Prince Charles has criticized the government’s plan to start deporting some asylum-seekers to Rwanda, calling it “appalling.”
Citing unnamed sources, the Times newspaper reported late Friday that Charles is privately opposed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s policy to send people to the East African country.
A court ruling has paved the way for the first flight under the controversial deal to leave Tuesday with more than 30 people. Britain plans to send some migrants who arrive in the U.K. as stowaways or in small boats to Rwanda, where their asylum claims will be processed.
If successful, they will stay in the African country. Human rights groups have called the idea unworkable and inhumane.
The prince’s office neither
confirmed nor denied the report.
The policy threatens to overshadow the upcoming visit by Charles and his wife Camilla to Rwanda later this month to attend a meeting of Commonwealth leaders.
Traditionally, British royals don’t get involved in political matters.
Oklahoma executions: Oklahoma’s attorney general has asked the state’s highest appeals court to set execution dates for 25 death row inmates following a federal judge’s rejection of their challenge to the state’s lethal injection method.
In 25 similar filings with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday, Attorney General John O’Connor wrote that the federal court’s stays of execution are no longer in place and that therefore there are no longer any legal impediments to executing the inmates, who have exhausted their appeals.