Rudy Giuliani Office, Apartment, Searched By Federal Authorities Over Ukraine Investigation

Rudy Giuliani, who served as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, found his apartment and office the subjects of federal investigators after search warrants were executed at the two locations Wednesday as part of a criminal investigation into his dealing in Ukraine, per the New York Times.

Authorities have been investigating the former mayor of New York City to find out if he “illegally lobbied the Trump administration in 2019 on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs,” the Times reported. He also pushed Ukrainian officials to investigate and dig up dirt on the Biden family.

The investigation is looking to see whether Giuliani engaged in foreign lobbying for Ukrainian officials by pressuring then-President Trump to remove Ukrainian ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch from her post, with some officials and businesses also eager to see her dismissed at the same time Giuliani saw her as an obstacle in his investigation into Hunter Biden.

If he did in fact engage in such behavior, it would be a federal crime in direct violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“What they did today was legal thuggery,” Robert J. Costello, Giuliani’s lawyer said. “Why would you do this to anyone, let alone someone who was the associate attorney general, United States attorney, the mayor of New York City and the personal lawyer to the 45th president of the United States.”

These search warrants for his properties, as well as his phone, were denied and blocked while Trump was in office, but when President Biden elected his attorney general, Merrick B. Garland, the F.B.I. and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan were given the go-ahead.

Giuliani hasn't been charged with any crimes or taken into custody at this time.