'Not one scintilla': Arizona judge smacks down Rudy Giuliani's indictment claim
An Arizona judge slapped down a document demand from former President Donald Trump's onetime lawyer Rudy Giuliani, whom he accused of relying on guesswork instead of evidence or fact, court records show.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen in a ruling issued Monday shredded Giuliani's demand for grand jury documents in his Arizona fake elector case.
"The underlying claim that formulates the request is based upon pure speculation and abject conjecture," Cohen wrote. "He alleges not one scintilla of information that would support this claim."
Giuliani, who pleaded not guilty in May to charges he conspired to overturn Arizona's election results in 2020, filed a motion last month demanding information about the grand jury empaneled to indict him on the grounds of suspected bias, court records show.
Cohen on Monday briskly dismissed the former New York City mayor's claim that jurors had been selected based on their political party affiliation and argued Giuliani, a Republican, had demanded a slew of documents he had no right to see.
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"He seeks information that would be voluminous, including a voter jury list that would be in the millions of identified potential jurors," Cohen wrote. "He also seeks underlying software to which he is not entitled."
The Maricopa County judge pointed out what he deemed a fatal flaw in Giuliani's theory of prejudiced jury selection: that the grand jury had been empaneled before Arizona prosecutors had prepared their presentation of the case.
"This was not a special grand jury to address the charges brought against these various defendants," Cohen wrote. "Rather, it was a sitting grand jury who was not selected for this case or any other specific case."
Then Cohen, despite his qualms, granted Giuliani a small victory, requesting the Arizona Attorney General's office to submit by Oct. 16 an affidavit with information about the grand jury commissioner's access to information about the jurors' political affiliation.
"In all other respects, the relief sought by Defendant Giuliani is denied," Cohen concluded. "Leave is granted to re-urge similar requests if the disclosures ordered herein reveal a factual and legal basis for further inquiry into this issue."