“THAT’S A LIE”: Rudy Giuliani’s Legal Troubles Deepen as Lawyers Resign Amid Discovery Refusal
REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
Rudy Giuliani’s legal team has resigned from his case, and his new attorney is facing backlash for making what legal analysts are calling false excuses for their departure. On Monday, Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan unsealed part of the motion filed by Giuliani’s former counsel to withdraw from representing the embattled former New York mayor.
According to the unsealed documents, Giuliani informed his lawyers that he “will not participate in electronic discovery,” a requirement ordered by the court. Despite this, his new attorney, Joe Cammarata, claimed in court filings that the previous lawyers left because they were overwhelmed by filings from election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, who are suing Giuliani.
Legal analyst Andrew Torrez called out this claim as blatantly false. “This is a very bad fact, as you might imagine,” Torrez wrote on BlueSky. “When you are currently facing a hearing on whether to sanction you for (among other things) not participating in discovery and not complying with the court’s turnover orders.” In all caps, he added, “THAT’S A LIE (and an easily disprovable one at that).”
1/ Judge Liman has ordered the partial unsealing of the motion to withdraw as counsel filed by Rudy Giuliani's former lawyers, which reveals that their reason for noping out was that Rudy told them he "will not participate in electronic discovery." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us…
— P. Andrew Torrez (@andrewtorrez.bsky.social) December 24, 2024 at 2:13 AM
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The withdrawn attorneys explicitly stated that their resignation was due to Giuliani’s refusal to comply with discovery orders, despite being advised of his obligation to do so. This revelation did not sit well with Judge Liman, who unsealed the filing to expose the discrepancy in Cammarata’s claims.
“To permit Defendant to claim that he had instructed his lawyers to comply with all court orders including those requiring electronic production and that it was Prior Counsel who were responsible for the misdeeds that have plagued this case while sitting on declarations in the court file that belie those claims, would permit him to make a ‘mockery’ of the court and its proceedings,” Judge Liman wrote in his order.
Kenneth Caruso, one of Giuliani’s former attorneys, revealed that Giuliani falsely claimed he would comply with discovery, even though he had no intention of doing so.
Torrez highlighted another significant aspect of the case: a footnote from Judge Liman suggesting the potential for more attorney-client privilege waivers under the crime-fraud exception. This legal provision could allow the court to access privileged documents if Giuliani’s lawyers were used to further illegal activity.
Should Giuliani continue to refuse document production, the court may compel his former law firm to provide them. These developments mark another low point in Giuliani’s mounting legal troubles, further jeopardizing his defense.
