A prosecutor from the Fulton County district attorney’s office called Giuliani’s attorney in Georgia on Monday to inform him that Giuliani is now considered a target of his investigation, said Bob Costello, another lawyer for Giuliani.
“This comes after we asked him probably six or seven times” if Giuliani was a target, Costello said. He said the district attorney’s office previously declined to answer that question.
Giuliani’s development is the first time a close Trump adviser has been notified that he is a target in a criminal investigation into the then-president’s inner circle surrounding the fallout from the 2020 presidential election. Both the Georgia grand jury and the Justice Department are investigating post-election efforts to help Trump stay in office.
Giuliani’s status was made public Monday along with other developments in the Georgia investigation, with a court ruling that Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify, as well as several other criminal investigations into the former president and his advisers.
These include the investigation into the handling of classified records at Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s presidency and the federal grand jury investigating on January 6.
A federal grand jury on Jan. 6 subpoenaed Eric Herschmann, a former attorney and senior Trump White House adviser, CNN and other media outlets reported Monday. Prosecutors told Giuliani he was the target of the investigation. The New York Times. The district attorney’s office declined to comment to CNN for this story.
Costello told CNN that while Giuliani “will appear before the grand jury,” he made no promises about his client’s response.
“If they want to play hard, we know how to play hard,” Costello said.
Costello said he made it very clear to the Fulton County prosecutor that his client would not answer questions about conversations between Giuliani and Trump, but declined to say whether Giuliani would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
“If you think he’s going to tell you about the conversations he had with his client, you’re delusional,” Costello said. Everything, he says, “depends on the questions that are asked.”
Regarding Giuliani’s response to being targeted by the special grand jury, he added, “I don’t think he’s surprised. He has no faith or belief in this Fulton grand jury process. It’s a political stunt.”
On Monday afternoon, the former New York City mayor addressed the development on his podcast, “The Rudy Giuliani Show.” “Now I’m told I’m the target, I’m a target of their investigation of Atlanta,” Giuliani said.
“As I recall, I appeared in Georgia as an attorney for Donald J. Trump, so I will be prosecuted for what I did as an attorney.”
Giuliani, who served as Trump’s lawyer during the 2020 election, was ordered by an Atlanta-area judge to appear in person before a special grand jury this week.
Giuliani was subpoenaed in July and a New York judge ordered the former mayor to testify before a special grand jury in Georgia after he failed to appear at a hearing in New York on the subpoena block. The former New York mayor also unsuccessfully tried to delay his appearance, saying he would not fly after undergoing heart stent surgery last month.
Giuliani met with Georgia state lawmakers three times in December 2020 following the presidential election: twice in person and once remotely. During the meetings, Giuliani spread conspiracy theories about widespread irregularities and fraud in the state. Among his many false claims, Giuliani accused two Atlanta election workers of smuggling fraudulent ballots for Joe Biden in suitcases.
Democratic state lawmakers previously told CNN about the grand jury testimony they were asked in the district attorney’s investigation covering Giuliani’s conduct. They said they testified about Giuliani’s appearance at a Georgia Senate subcommittee hearing on December 3, 2020, during which Giuliani pushed false claims of massive election fraud.
Numerous state and federal officials have denied Giuliani’s claims of fraud in Georgia, a state that Biden won by nearly 12,000 votes. Byung “Bjay” Pak, the former top federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Georgia, was among those who testified before the US House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 insurgency that Giuliani’s claims of voter fraud in Fulton County had been investigated by federal authorities and found to be untrue.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, detailed the far-reaching scope of the investigation, saying it includes “the possible solicitation of voter fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies , conspiracy, extortion, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the administration of the elections.”
This story was updated with additional news on Monday.
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz, Tierney Sneed and Devon Sayers contributed to this report.
