UPDATE 2-Giuliani is target of Georgia probe into 2020 U.S. election -New York Times

Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer who helped lead challenges to the 2020 election results, have been told that Giuliani is a target in a criminal probe examining attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election, the New York Times reported on Monday. Giuliani was scheduled to appear on Wednesday before a special grand jury investigating the case, after a judge ordered him to comply with a subpoena.

His lawyer, Robert Costello, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Costello told the Times that prosecutors from the Fulton County district attorney’s office in Georgia, which is overseeing the probe, informed him that Giuliani is a target, the newspaper reported. Costello also said prosecutors were “delusional” if they expected Giuliani to talk about conversations with Trump, the Times reported, suggesting that Giuliani may assert attorney-client privilege and refuse to answer questions about his private dealings with Trump.

Giuliani appeared before state lawmakers in December 2020, echoing false conspiracy theories about stolen ballots and urging them not to certify Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory. The Fulton County criminal probe, one of several investigations into Trump’s attempt to invalidate the 2020 election, has ensnared multiple members of Trump’s inner circle of advisers.

Trump has falsely claimed that he won Georgia, a battleground state that was key to Biden’s victory. In a recorded phone call in January 2021, Trump urged the state’s top election official to “find” enough votes to alter the outcome. Also on Monday, a federal judge ruled that U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, must testify before the grand jury about phone calls he made to the same official, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

In a statement, Graham said he would appeal the decision.

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