Giuliani caught lying about being unable to fly in attempt to delay grand jury appearance

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Former Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani was caught lying to Georgia prosecutors in an attempt to get out of travelling to Atlanta to appear before a grand jury that is investigating former president Donald Trump’s attempt to pressure Georgia officials into overturning Joe Biden’s 2020 election win there.

Last month, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office issued a subpoena for Mr Giuliani to appear before a special grand jury she convened earlier this year. The panel is probing whether Mr Trump or his associates broke Georgia law by pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp to “find” enough non-existent votes to reverse the ex-president’s loss to Mr Biden.

Mr Giuliani was set to appear before the grand jury on 9 August, but in court documents, the ex-New York City mayor’s lawyers argued that a recent cardiac procedure left him unable to travel on the advice of his physicians.

After prosecutors pointed out that he had posted tweets to his Twitter account documenting travel away from his New York home during the time he said he was unable to travel, Mr Giuliani’s lawyers said he had not been “cleared” for travel by air in a second motion before the court overseeing the grand jury probe.

But in response to Mr Giuliani’s second motion to delay his grand jury appearance, lawyers with the Fulton County District Attorney said they had obtained evidence that the ex-Trump attorney — who is currently fighting disbarment in New York and Washington, DC for making false statements in court while he helped Mr Trump try to overturn the 2020 election — “purchased multiple airline tickets with cash, including tickets to Rome, lly, and Zurich, Switzerland, for travel dates … after [his] medical procedure”.