Rudy Giuliani — the former mayor of New York City and ex-lawyer for Donald Trump — was officially disbarred in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Sept. 26, for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The news dropped on the same day that an indictment for current N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams was unsealed with five criminal counts related to foreign bribery and wire fraud.
The decision to disbar Giuliani from practicing law in D.C. came more than a year after a legal ethics committee declared in a 38-page decision in July 2023 that his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in favor of Trump had “done lasting damage” to the oath he swore to support the U.S. Constitution.
Per The Washington Post, the panel alluded to Giuliani’s past as a beloved figure in politics who sought to bring Americans together in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“The misconduct here sadly transcends all his past accomplishments,” the committee wrote. “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.”
Rudy Giuliani speaks at an event for Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Giuliani’s close connection with the former president, and his attempts to bend the law on Trump’s behalf, have led to a near-unraveling of the legal career of a man once known as “America’s mayor.”
In 2021, a New York appellate court ruled that Giuliani, who served as Trump’s personal lawyer during the post-election frenzy, made “demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large” related to the election, in which Trump lost to Biden by about 7 million votes but nonetheless claimed it was rigged.
The court then temporarily suspended Giuliani’s law license in New York. Shortly after that, his D.C. law license was temporarily suspended.
In July 2024, he was formally disbarred by a New York appeals court.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference in Miami in July 2021. Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty
Giuliani has been mired in multiple other legal issues related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Giuliani was indicted in a Georgia election subversion case in August 2023, alongside Trump himself and 17 other MAGA allies. He was indicted in May 2024 in a similar election interference case in Arizona. He has pleaded not guilty.
Giuliani has faced a number of reported financial issues, too — the result of millions of dollars in legal bills stemming from the 2020 election and from a probe into whether he acted as an unregistered lobbyist for Ukrainian officials.
Unrelated to the 2020 election, he was sued by a former staffer for sexual harassment in May 2023. The staffer, Noelle Dunphy, accused Giuliani of forcing her to have oral sex and intercourse. The lawsuit also alleged Giuliani was selling presidential pardons for $2 million.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson later alleged in her 2023 memoirthat, shortly before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot began, Giuliani groped her beneath her skirt while claiming the administration would find a way to stay in power. He denied the accusation.
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in December 2023, citing $500 million of debt.
