DC Bar takes step closer to disbarring Giuliani over 2020 election challenge

The District of Columbia Bar, which lawyers must join to practice law in the city, moved closer Thursday to disbarring Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani in connection with his efforts in 2020 to help then-President Trump challenge the results of his failed reelection bid that year. 

The bar's Disciplinary Counsel Office agreed to disbar Giuliani after one of its committees found that he had violated at least one professional rule during his efforts to help challenge President Joe Biden's win in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election.

The decision is not final. The matter now goes to the bar's Professional Responsibility Board, which will decide whether to accept the findings. However, the ruling Thursday was a setback in Guiliani's efforts to defend himself against the ethics complaint, BNN Bloomberg reported. 

The D.C. Court of Appeals will make the final decision on any discipline in the case.

The decision Thursday follows several days of arguments and testimony in which attorneys for Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, argued for the lightest possible sanction for their client.

The disciplinary counsel's office alleged that Giuliani violated legal practice rules when he asked a Pennsylvania judge to invalidate large numbers of ballots or to order a new election.

"Mr. Giuliani has testified on several occasions that he believes there was a conspiracy," argued disciplinary investigator Phil Fox, according to the Guardian newspaper. "There was a conspiracy, and he was the head of it."

A New York court in 2021 suspended Giuliani's license in the state for spreading false and misleading statements about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

His D.C. law license is suspended as he battles the ethics complaint in the District.