Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in Washington D.C. for promoting Donald Trump's "false" claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
A panel of the D.C. appeals court made the former New York mayor's disbarment official, citing his previous disbarment in New York this summer and the rule of reciprocity. Giuliani failed to explain why he should not also be disbarred in the nation's capital, the court said.
The D.C. Bar's Board on Professional Responsibility had recommended disbarment for filing "frivolous and destructive" lawsuits challenging the election results.
"Disbarment is the only sanction that will protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession, and deter other lawyers from launching similarly baseless claims in the pursuit of such wide-ranging yet completely unjustified relief," the board said.
In a statement, Giuliani blasted the D.C. court's ruling as a "travesty of justice" and an act of political retribution.
“Members of the legal community who want to protect the integrity of our justice system should immediately speak out against this partisan, politically motivated decision," Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman said.
“The people coming after Mayor Giuliani can’t take away the fact that he remains the most effective prosecutor in American history, who did more to improve the lives of others than almost any other American alive today,” Goodman said.
Once hailed as "America's mayor" for his leadership after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Giuliani has faced heavy costs in recent years for his loyalty to Trump.
He was ordered to pay $148 million last year to two election workers in Georgia after he was found liable of defamation. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy, but a judge threw out his bankruptcy case this summer.
The two election workers have pushed to seize Giuliani's assets, including his apartment in New York City.
Giuliani was also charged and had his mugshot taken along with Trump and more than a dozen others for attempting to "overturn" the election results in Georgia. Giuliani is also facing separate charges in Arizona over his election advocacy.
Giuliani is not the only pro-Trump lawyer to face expulsion from the predominantly left-wing legal profession, with constitutional scholar John Eastman and former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, among others, also facing the loss of their licenses, as well as criminal charges for helping Trump in 2020.
