Rudy Giuliani has given up on his scheduled transcribed interview with a House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, a spokesman for the committee said Thursday night.
“Mr Giuliani had agreed to take part in a rewritten interview with the selected committee,” said Tim Mulvy. “Today, he informed the commission’s investigators that he would not appear unless he was allowed to record the interview, which was never an agreed condition.”
Rumor has it that Giuliani is “an important witness to the overthrow of the government and he remains under appeal.” Mulvey said that if Giuliani refused to comply, “the committee will consider all options for implementation.”
Giuliani was summoned by the commission in January 2022, along with Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, two lawyers who worked to promote former President Trump’s false allegations about the election, and Boris Epstein, a former Trump White House aide.
The four figures took part in a press conference on November 19, 2020, which included baseless allegations that the election had been stolen and that Trump had won “convincingly”.
Rudy Giuliani spoke to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 elections at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee on November 19, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
The chairman of the commission, member Benny Thompson, said during the summons that all four “develop unsupported theories of electoral fraud, make efforts to cancel the election results or are in direct contact with the former president on attempts to stop the vote count. in the elections. ”
The commission sent a letter to Giuliani on January 6, 2022, stating that the commission believed from testimony that the former mayor of New York had summoned Trump in December 2020. Homeland Security did not have that authority.
Giuliani’s license has since been suspended in New York and Washington, D.C.
Giuliani’s refusal to appear came the same week as the son of former President Donald Trump Jr. met with the commission. A source told CBS News that the interview lasted about three hours, Trump Jr. did not plead the fifth and described the interview as “very cordial.”
The House of Representatives Commission, set up last year by President Nancy Pelosi, is concluding its investigation phase on 6 January. The hearings are set to begin on June 9, with Thompson saying last week that there will be eight hearings.
So far, the commission has issued dozens of summonses, including to Trump’s allies, former White House officials, campaign collaborators and those involved in planning the White House rally before the Capitol building was besieged. Four of Trump’s top allies – Steve Bannon, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, trade adviser Peter Navarro and former communications officer Dan Scavino – were held in disrespect to Congress for refusing to comply with the summons, and the Justice Department ruled. charges against Bannon. Everyone said they were following the instructions of Trump, who asked for executive privilege.
The commission, consisting of seven Democrats and two Republicans, is tasked with investigating the January 6 attack, when thousands of Trump supporters marched on the Capitol as Congress counted the vote, largely a ceremonial final step in confirming President Biden’s victory. Lawmakers were sent to flee amid a riot that killed five people and arrested hundreds more. Trump, who encouraged his supporters to “go down to the Capitol” during the Ellipse rally before the vote count, was impeachment by the House of Representatives a week later to incite a riot, but was later acquitted by the Senate.
Rebecca Kaplan and Ellis Kim contributed to this report.
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