Last year the FBI raided Giuliani's home. A year later he's still under investigation（在线收听）

Last year the FBI raided Giuliani's home. A year later he's still under investigation

Transcript

It's been exactly one year since federal agents searched the home and office of Rudy Giuliani, the former lawyer for President Trump and a key Trump ally.

In the 12 months that followed, Giuliani has not been charged with any crimes, but there is no indication the high-profile probe is winding down.

Earlier this month, Giuliani was reported to have helped investigators by unlocking several devices. Meanwhile, a retired judge appointed by the court spent months reviewing Giuliani's claims of privilege over seized materials.

While prosecutors have said little about their work, Giuliani's lawyer, Robert Costello, indicated in a court filing last August that investigators are focused on Giuliani's activities in Ukraine in 2018 and 2019, when he was a key player in an effort to gather materials harmful to the presidential candidacy of Joe Biden. Costello's filing specifically mentions former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was the target of a smear campaign amplified by Giuliani.

Giuliani told the New Yorker for an article in December 2019: "I believed that I needed Yovanovitch out of the way. She was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody."

Giuliani had been under investigation by prosecutors in New York since about 2019 when they charged two of his associates

Giuliani had been under investigation by the Southern District of New York since at least 2019, when prosecutors from the same office Giuliani once ran charged two associates of Giuliani, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, with campaign finance crimes (they have since been convicted.) Subpoenas issued at the time and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal indicated prosecutors were simultaneously examining Giuliani's overseas business dealings.

Also that fall, the House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry against President Trump for "soliciting the government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States presidential election to his advantage."

A parade of witnesses described Giuliani playing a key role in that effort, with the help of Parnas and Fruman. Giuliani refused to be interviewed by investigators.

Trump was impeached, but acquitted in his Senate trial.

The following year, Giuliani represented Trump, this time in his effort to discredit the results of the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani promoted baseless claims there had been widespread fraud. He has since been sued by voting technology companies Smartmatic and Dominion, and by elections officials in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Giuliani's lawyer described the FBI's move as "legal thuggery"

In 2021, Giuliani suffered a series of setbacks. In January, The Washington Post reported that Trump was no longer covering Giuliani's legal expenses. The following month, a Trump aide, Jason Miller, said Giuliani was no longer representing Trump as an attorney.

Since then, courts in New York and Washington, D.C., have suspended Giuliani's law licenses.

On the morning of April 28, FBI agents showed up at Giuliani's Manhattan home with a warrant to search the apartment and his office. They seized 18 electronic devices. Giuliani's lawyer, Robert Costello, described the move as "legal thuggery."

As the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the 1980s, Giuliani built a media-friendly profile, staging "perp walks" and taking on prosecutions of mob bosses and Wall Street figures.

In 1993, New Yorkers elected him mayor. Giuliani further built his tough-on-crime reputation with aggressive policing policies. In September 2001, in the final months of Giuliani's second and final term as mayor, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. Giuliani projected calm while connecting with people's pain. Oprah dubbed him "America's Mayor."

In the years that followed, Giuliani built a business giving speeches and lending his imprimatur to policing and security projects around the world. A campaign for the 2008 Republican nomination for president fizzled, but he continued to make speeches, endorse products and work for international clients.

In 2016, Giuliani became a prominent surrogate for the Trump campaign. In 2018, President Trump took him on as his personal attorney to respond to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.