Rudy Giuliani has been hit with ethics charges over baseless claims about the 2020 presidential election being stolen while serving as an attorney for Donald Trump.
The district of Columbia polices attorneys for ethical misconduct, and the charges were filed on Friday. The DC office of disciplinary counsel alleges that Giuliani, a member of the DC bar, made baseless claims in federal court filings about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania. The charges were filed with the District of Columbia court of appeals board on professional responsibility.
A lawyer for Giuliani didn't have an immediate comment.
The charges come a day after the US House select committee on January 6th Capitol Attack had its first primetime hearing on the case, in which Trump and his allies tried to overturn the 2020 election and incite throngs of his supporters to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory.
Giuliani, a former US attorney in Manhattan and New York City mayor, has been one of Trump's most fervent supporters and repeatedly claimed that the election had been stolen.
The complaint says that Giuliani sought an emergency order to prohibit the presidential election, an order to invalidate ballots cast by certain voters in seven counties, and other orders that would have allowed the state s assembly to choose its candidates and declare Trump the winner in Pennsylvania.
The charges said that his conduct violated two professional conduct rules in Pennsylvania that barring attorneys from bringing frivolous proceedings without a basis in law or fact and prohibiting conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Charges can lead to the suspension of a license to practice law or disbarment.
The charges are the second time that a bar office has taken action against Giuliani.
His New York state law license was suspended in June 2021 after a state appeals court found that he made false and misleading statements that widespread voter fraud undermined the election.
Giuliani has been stained by his dealings with Ukraine and is being investigated by Manhattan federal prosecutors over his business ties, despite having two of his law licenses suspended.
In April 2018 he started representing Trump, a Republican and New Yorker, in connection with then-special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Giuliani has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing. The federal investigation is politically motivated, according to his lawyer.