In an unsealed letter to the federal district court, lawyers for disgraced Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani asked a judge to either toss evidence prosecutors got from searching Giuliani’s iCloud account or give them access to the affidavits presented to obtain the warrants, claiming that the search was illegal and violated the rights of Giuliani and his clients.
According to the letter, reported by CNN, Giuliani’s attorneys state that the warrant claimed the seizure of records needed to be withheld from Giuliani because “if Giuliani were informed of the existence of the warrant, he might destroy evidence or intimidate witnesses.” Giuliani’s lawyers say that the failure to notify his client resulted in confidential information being obtained and reviewed by prosecutors in the Department of Justice, including information that could compromise his clients, including Donald Trump who was the subject of a DoJ investigation at the time the files were seized.
“After our review, we expect to be able to expand our argument that this unilateral, secret review was illegal,” they wrote, “and should be deterred in the future by suppression of any evidence considered, and also any information obtained as fruit of this poisoned tree.”
“”the government unilaterally reviewed all the information, privileged and not, and made entirely uninformed decisions about privilege (without any input from the clients or their counsel),” the statement continues. “This was during a period when the President was under investigation by that very office and the Justice Department of which they are an integral part.”
None of Giuliani’s clients, including Trump, have filed an appeal to the Court claiming a violation of attorney-client privileges.
Further, the letter states, Giuliani cooperated with the federal government by turning over information to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Giuliani’s lawyers also claim Giuliani offered to cooperate with investigators if he were given advance notice of what they were looking for and excluded any information relating to his clients.
The information from Giuliani’s iCloud account “certainly had communications with, and on behalf of, the sitting President, containing material relating to the impending impeachment, the welfare of the country, and to national security. Given the complexity of Mr. Giuliani’s personal and professional relationships and the related communications, it is a near impossible task to accurately list all individuals with whom Mr. Giuliani had a privileged relationship or communications,” the letter declared.
It is unclear how Giuliani, who had no position in the federal government, would have obtained material relating to “national security.”