Rudy Giuliani testifies before Fulton grand jury on alleged 2020 election tampering

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - The man once known as America’s mayor testified Wednesday before a Fulton County grand jury investigating allegations of tampering in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election’s outcome.

Rudy Giuliani was scheduled to appear last week in Fulton County Superior Court, but Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, told The Associated Press that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, had excused Giuliani for the day. Costello said the former mayor of New York City was unable to travel because of a recent medical procedure.

Giuliani arrived at the Fulton County courthouse around 8:30 a.m. and left via a parking garage around 3 p.m.

RELATED: Gov. Brian Kemp files motion to quash Fulton County grand jury subpoena

On Monday, according to The Associated Press, prosecutors informed Giuliani’s attorneys the former New York City mayor is also a target of a criminal investigation into possible illegal attempts by then-President Donald Trump and others to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia.

News of that disclosure was first reported by The New York Times.

Also on Monday, a federal judge said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify before the special grand jury. Prosecutors have said they want to ask Graham about phone calls they say he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks following the election.

On July 13, the New York Supreme Court ordered Giuliani to testify in the investigation. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had subpoenaed Giuliani , the former U.S. associate attorney general and former U.S. Attorney who also served as Trump’s lawyer as he sought to overturn the 2020 election’s results.

Giuliani, who was mayor of New York City when the 9/11 terrorist attacks struck his city, lost his law license in New York and Washington, D.C., as a result of his support of Trump’s claims about rigged voting machines, polling place fraud, and an international communist conspiracy.

Willis is leading a Fulton County grand jury investigation about an alleged plot involving 16 Republicans who served as fake electors.

According to the Associated Press, all 16 signed a certificate declaring then-President Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Joe Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors was certified.

Last year, Willis opened a criminal investigation “into attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia General Election.” A special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request. In court filings earlier this month, she alleged “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

Willis, according to the Associated Press, has said she is considering calling Trump himself to testify before the special grand jury.

In response, Trump has hired three of metro Atlanta’s most prominent criminal defense attorneys: Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Dwight Thomas.

Last week, the FBI searched Trump’s Florida home as part of its investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. He is also facing a civil investigation in New York over allegations that his company, the Trump Organization, misled banks and tax authorities about the value of his assets.

And the Justice Department is investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters as well as efforts by him and his allies to overturn the election he falsely claimed was stolen.

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