Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday denounced the raids by federal investigators on the Manhattan home and office of his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, defending the former New York mayor as the victim of a politically biased Justice Department.<\/p>\n
\u201cRudy Giuliani is a great patriot. He does these things \u2014 he just loves this country, and they raid his apartment,\u201d Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s, like, so unfair and such a double \u2014 it\u2019s like a double standard like I don\u2019t think anybody\u2019s ever seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n
FBI agents executed search warrants at the properties on Wednesday in relation to a long-running probe into Giuliani\u2019s dealings in Ukraine during Trump\u2019s presidency. An attorney for Giuliani said the raids focused on a single incident in which his client allegedly failed to register as a foreign agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what they\u2019re looking for, what they\u2019re doing. They say it had to do with filings of various papers, lobbying filings,\u201d Trump said, going on to allege, without offering evidence, illegal foreign lobbying by President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very unfair situation,\u201d Trump added. \u201cYou have to understand Rudy. Rudy loves this country so much. It is so terrible when you see things that are going on in our country, with the corruption and the problems. And then they go after Rudy Giuliani. It\u2019s very sad, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giuliani\u2019s pressuring of Ukrainian officials to announce investigations into unsubstantiated accusations of wrongdoing by then-candidate Biden and his family ahead of the 2020 election played a crucial role in Trump\u2019s first impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.<\/p>\n
Giuliani went on to lead the Trump campaign\u2019s election-related legal challenges, parroting the president\u2019s claims that the White House race had been stolen on a national tour of 2020 battlegrounds and state legislatures.<\/p>\n
Those appearances by Giuliani memorably included a news conference outside a Philadelphia landscaping business adjacent to an adult bookstore and a crematorium, as well as remarks at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., where what appeared to be dark hair dye dripped down his face. <\/p>\n
Giuliani also addressed the rally outside the White House on Jan. 6 that preceded the attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. In his speech to the crowd, Giuliani advocated \u201ctrial by combat\u201d to litigate Trump\u2019s false election claims \u2014 remarks which have exposed him to additional legal scrutiny for potentially helping incite the insurrection.<\/p>\n
Along with Giuliani\u2019s home and office, FBI agents on Wednesday also seized the cell phone of Victoria Toensing, another lawyer who has ties to the Ukrainians and remains close to Giuliani and Trump. Together, the Justice Department\u2019s actions against Giuliani and Toensing represented unusually aggressive law enforcement tactics against attorneys and an extraordinary breach of a former president\u2019s inner circle.<\/p>\n