Rudy Giuliani violated ethics rules by pushing Trump’s election lies, review finds

Trump’s former lawyer could be disbarred, have law licence suspended or be formally censured

Rudy Giuliani violated ethics rules with his false election fraud claims on Donald Trump’s behalf, an attorney disciplinary committee has ruled.

The former New York mayor should be disciplined for at least one ethics rules violation for his work on a failed lawsuit challenging Mr Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden, the committee said.

The decision by the hearing committee for the DC Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility is preliminary and non-binding. The DC local court of appeals will finally decide on whether Mr Giuliani should be sanctioned.

The committee could recommend that Mr Giuliani is disbarred, has his law licence suspended in DC or be formally censured.

Hamilton Fox of the DC Office of Disciplinary Counsel told the committee that Mr Giuliani should be disbarred saying that he tried to undermine the US Constitution and “ignore the will of the voters.”

Mr Giuliani, 78, is accused of violating legal ethics rules in a lawsuit seeking to invalidate hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes in Pennsylvania.

A federal judge rejected his claim on behalf of the Trump campaign.

Mr Giuliani’s lawyer, John Leventhal, has asked the committee to impose either a letter of reprimand or a private admonition for his client.

The former mayor had his New York law licence suspended in June 2021 after a state appeals court ruled he had made “demonstrably false and misleading” statements that voter fraud had undermined the 2020 election.

Mr Giuliani’s law licence was temporarily suspended after the New York court decision.

Reuters contributed to this report