Federal Investigators Execute Search Warrant On Rudy Giuliani’s Apartment

On Wednesday morning, federal Investigators executed a search warrant on former New York City Mayor and personal lawyer to Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani. Investigators searched the former mayor’s Upper East Side apartment as part of a criminal investigation into Giuliani relating to his dealings with Ukraine.

Federal prosecutors are working to determine if Giuliani illegally lobbied on behalf of Ukrainian officials during the Trump administration. Authorities hope to discover if Giuliani represented Ukrainian interests in the White House while the country’s officials helped him find potentially scandalous information about his political rivals, including President Joe Biden.

Wednesday’s search of Giuliani’s apartment is one step in a long-running investigation into the former mayor’s dealings. During the Trump administration, high-level political appointees in the Justice Department blocked prior attempts to procure a search warrant against Giuliani. Attorney General Merrick Garland lifted all prior restrictions on a Giuliani search warrant, leading to Wednesday’s search of his apartment.

Prosecutors hoped to secure the search warrant days after the 2020 presidential election, but Trump appointees in the Justice Department continued to block the warrant, as Trump and Giuliani were still publicly objecting the election’s results.

Prosecutors are also examining dealings Giuliani had with Ukrainian official Yuriy Lutsenko, who federal authorities believe urged Giuliani to lobby for the removal of American ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch in exchange for information about political rivals. Giuliani has also taken in hundreds of thousands of dollars doing vague consulting jobs for Lutsenko, which led to a draft retainer agreement that was never executed.