A disciplinary board in Washington recommended disbarment for Rudy Giuliani, ex-lawyer and Donald Trump ally, for baselessly claiming the 2020 election was stolen.
The Board on Professional Responsibility found that Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, asserted unsubstantiated claims while arguing that Pennsylvania election officials neglected to prevent voter fraud, reported Bloomberg.
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“He urged a federal judge to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania voters even though he had no objectively reliable evidence that any such scheme existed, or even that any illegal mail-in ballots had been counted,” wrote the board, which acts as the disciplinary arm of the D.C. Court of Appeals.
“We conclude that disbarment is the only sanction that will protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession, and deter other lawyers from launching similarly baseless claims in the pursuit of such wide-ranging yet completely unjustified relief,” the panel wrote, according to Bloomberg.
This marks the penultimate stage before Giuliani’s formal disbarment in Washington. The matter will proceed to the D.C. Court of Appeals for a decision. Previously, Giuliani disputed a report from last year, which found him guilty of misconduct for pursuing contentious legal battles over President Joe Biden‘s victory in Pennsylvania.
Disbarment represents the harshest penalty, and Giuliani’s law license has been under temporary suspension since 2021.
“We recognize that disbarment has not been imposed in other frivolous litigation cases, but none of those cases involve the aggravating factors presented here,” the board wrote.
Following the 2020 election, Giuliani collaborated with other attorneys to file lawsuits contesting the outcomes in various states for then-President Trump. Giuliani and his legal team have justified his actions, asserting that his legal approach was valid and rational.
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