DC attorney disciplinary board recommends Giuliani be disbarred

A disciplinary board associated with the D.C. Bar recommended disbarring Rudy Giuliani Friday, over efforts he took to prevent the transfer of power after former President Trump lost the 2020 election.

The recommendation — which must still be approved by the D.C. Court of Appeals — offers a scathing review of Giuliani’s efforts to fight Trump’s loss in Pennsylvania.

Giuliani “urged a federal judge to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania voters even though he had no objectively reliable evidence that any such scheme existed,” the Board of Professional Responsibility wrote.

The board noted disbarment is not often proposed for filing frivolous lawsuits, but wrote that no other cases “involve the aggravating factors” seen in Giuliani’s case.

“No prior disciplinary cases involving frivolous litigation are remotely comparable to this case. We conclude that disbarment is the only sanction that will protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession, and deter other lawyers from launching similarly baseless claims in the pursuit of such wide-ranging yet completely unjustified relief."

Giuliani, who is facing election interference charges alongside Trump, is likewise facing similar charges in Arizona and is an unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator in the federal case against the former president related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The former mayor was central in numerous efforts to help Trump resist the transfer of power, including making calls to statehouse leaders asking them 

A spokesman for Giuliani asserted without evidence that the determination was the result of “partisan Democrats.”

“Taking away the mayor's law license is meant to discourage lawyers from representing clients like President Donald Trump or anyone else who is willing to take on the prevailing political establishment,” Ted Goodman said in a statement.

Other attorneys involved in Trump’s efforts to stay in power have similarly risked their law license.

Attorney Jenna Ellis had her law license suspended for three years in Colorado as a result of her guilty plea in the Georgia case. And John Eastman, who crafted the memo encouraging former Vice President Mike Pence to fail to certify the election results, currently has his law license suspended as proceedings over his disbarment continue.

The recommendation is just the latest legal turmoil for Giuliani, who is also facing bankruptcy proceedings after losing a defamation suit brought by a mother-daughter duo of election workers the former mayor falsely claimed were “changing votes.”

Creditors this week asked a judge to take control of his assets.

Updated at 6:28 p.m.