Federal prosecutors looking into President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have reportedly discussed a legal request to obtain his electronic communications.
One source familiar with the matter told NBC News that an investigation into the former New York mayor being conducted by the Southern District of New York is still “very active.” That source and another also claimed that SDNY prosecutors told Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C., that they want to see Giuliani’s emails.
Per agency policy, Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C., must give the permission to the SDNY before prosecutors can ask a judge to sign a search warrant for communications that might be guarded by attorney-client privilege.
Spokespeople for both the Justice Department and the SDNY declined to comment on the report. Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, told NBC News that he has “no reason to believe there’s any truth to the allegations that there is renewed interest in my client.”
Although details about the SDNY inquiry into Giuliani are being kept tightly under wraps, in 2019, the New York Times reported that he was being investigated by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. The investigators were reportedly probing whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws for his work in Ukraine.
Two of Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were charged last year for an alleged plot to use straw donors to send illegal contributions to political figures in order to advance their own business and political interests. They pleaded not guilty. Also charged were Ukrainian-born Andrey Kukushkin and David Correia, who both pleaded not guilty. However, Correia changed his position and pleaded guilty in October to defrauding investors.
Giuliani, who is now leading Trump’s legal effort to challenge the results of the 2020 election, denied a New York Times report a few weeks ago that said he spoke to Trump about a pardon.
