Feds Seize Electronics From Rudy Giuliani's Home Using Warrant That Trump DOJ Blocked for 2 Years

Federal investigators executed a search warrant at the Manhattan apartment of former President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, on Wednesday, stepping up a years-long probe into whether he broke lobbying laws with foreign officials.

Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan executed the search warrant on Giuliani's Upper East Side apartment Wednesday and seized numerous electronic devices, The New York Times first reported. Authorities have been investigating Giuliani over his alleged lobbying ties to Ukrainian officials dating back to 2019. For nearly two years, Trump's Justice Department blocked the search warrant, which was finally cleared right after President Joe Biden's attorney general, Merrick B. Garland, was confirmed as its head earlier this year.

The FBI and the Manhattan federal prosecutor's office had sought the search warrant for Giuliani's cell phones for months. The warrant is not a direct accusation that Giuliani has committed wrongdoing, but as the Times noted Wedneday, "it shows the [Ukraine lobbying] investigation has entered an aggressive new phase."

Federal investigators are now taking a deeper look into Giuliani's series of trip to the Ukraine, focusing on claims he engaged in business dealings that sought to oust the U.S. ambassador to the eastern European government. Then-ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch was ultimately fired by Trump, but not before prosecutors said Giuliani may have broken federal lobbying laws.

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