Rudy Giuliani on Monday said that federal prosecutors are trying to “frame” him using the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) due to his support for former President Trump, who employed him as a personal attorney.
In an interview with Fox News, the former New York City mayor claimed that an ongoing investigation into whether he had violated FARA by working as an unregistered agent for Ukrainian clients was an effort by Trump’s political enemies to target the former president’s associates.
“They are trying to frame me,” Giuliani said to Fox News. “They are trying to find something they can make into a crime, some technical violation, some mistake I made.”
“There is no way on earth that they could have anyone telling the truth that I was acting as a foreign agent,” he continued, “nor do they have any evidence that I tried to influence the government on behalf of clients.”
The comments are Giuliani’s latest attempt to explain the ongoing federal investigation surrounding his work in Ukraine. He faces allegations, according to multiple news reports, that he lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of top Ukrainian officials to secure the firing of Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to the country.
The investigation drew national attention last week when FBI agents executed a search warrant and seized electronic devices from Giuliani’s home and office.
Giuliani has claimed that he was cooperating with the investigation when the raid occurred, adding that he thinks that the move by the federal agents was meant to embarrass him publicly due to his support for Trump.
“Usually a person who has been a former assistant U.S. attorney, a U.S. attorney, a mayor, the associate attorney general, usually they receive a subpoena — not have their home raided,” Giuliani told Fox News.
“The only lawyers they raid are lawyers for Donald Trump. I can’t think of another lawyer that has been raided other than lawyers for Trump,” he added. “Trump is in a special category because he doesn’t have constitutional rights.”