US: Rudy Giuliani faces disbarment in DC

The move places Mr Giuliani at risk of disbarment in the capital. The review panel, in a statement late on Friday, criticised the lawyer and former politician for his vehement support of Mr Trump’s unfounded allegations of his electoral defeat to Democratic rival and current US president, Joe Biden.

“Mr Giuliani claimed massive election fraud but had no evidence,” wrote the three-member panel in a report outlining the inaccuracies and claims that the former New York City mayor made in a Pennsylvania lawsuit attempting to reverse the election outcome.

From the election day in November 2020 until the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol by Trump supporters, Mr Giuliani and other Trump lawyers consistently made allegations of election fraud, which were almost universally dismissed by federal and state courts.

Mr Giuliani may become the third lawyer to lose his licence over his actions on Trump’s behalf, following John Eastman, who faces disbarment in California and Lin Wood, who surrendered his licence in Georgia.

“Mr Giuliani’s effort to undermine the integrity of the 2020 presidential election has helped destabilise our democracy,” wrote the panel members, Robert Bernius, Carolyn Haynesworth-Murrell and Jay Brozost.

“The misconduct here sadly transcends all his past accomplishments,” they added. “It was unparalleled in its destructive purpose and effect. He sought to disrupt a presidential election and persists in his refusal to acknowledge the wrong he has done.”

Mr Giuliani’s New York law licence has already been suspended due to false statements he made after the election. The findings of the Washington review panel will now proceed to the DC court of appeals for a final decision.

Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Mr Giuliani, appealed for support from Washington lawyers and condemned the panel’s actions as “the sort of behaviour we’d expect out of the Soviet Union”.