US federal prosecutors said Monday that they will not file criminal charges against former President Donald Trump’s attorney and adviser Rudy Giuliani over his work on issues related to Ukraine.
Last May, the FBI raided Giuliani’s home and office to carry out a court-ordered search warrant seeking evidence of violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, putting the investigation of the former New York mayor in the headlines.
Since the sign-off of senior Department of Justice officials is required for searches of premises used by lawyers, the FBI raids against Giuliani appeared to signal a particularly grave criminal investigation.
It was believed that the federal probe was focused on Giuliani’s 2019 and 2020 efforts to prompt Ukraine to launch an investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings, hoping along with Trump that such an investigation could be politically damaging to Joe Biden which, at the time, was quite accurately seen as the most serious potential opponent to Trump in his reelection bid.
These efforts along with Giuliani’s attempt to seek the dismissal of US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch spurred the US House of Representatives’ first impeachment of Trump.
However, the probe seemed to have gradually weakened in recent months with federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation telling a federal judge on Monday there’s no longer a need for a special master to oversee the sifting of records seized from Giuliani’s home and office because the probe had essentially ended.
According to Giuliani’s spokesperson Ted Goodman, the prosecutors’ move was a clear victory and a total vindication for the former mayor, stressing, however, that they’re not surprised by the result since Giuliani’s lawyer Robert Costello was asking prosecutors for the same measure for months.
Costello also emphasized he believes the US Attorney’s office was previously tricked into issuing a search warrant for Giuliani’s office and email account by somebody who obviously gave them false probable cause to believe that the former New York mayor committed a crime.
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