The FBI’s raid on former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s apartment was denounced Thursday by former President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, the FBI executed a search warrant for Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment and seized multiple electronic devices, according to The New York Times.
Giuliani, who served as Trump’s personal attorney, is being investigated in connection with his activities regarding Ukraine, the Times reported.
During a telephone interview on the Fox Business show “Mornings With Maria,” Trump contrasted Giuliani’s record with that of John Kerry, who has recently been accused to telling an Iranian official about Israeli actions in Syria — a claim Kerry has denied.
“It is incredible because you bring up John Kerry and the horrible thing that he did and was doing for a period of time and then you take the greatest mayor in the history of New York; you take a great patriot. You know Rudy Giuliani is a great patriot. He just loves this country, and they raid his apartment,” Trump said.
“It’s, like, so unfair and it’s like a double standard like I don’t think anybody’s ever seen before. It’s very, very unfair,” Trump said.
“Rudy is a patriot who loves this country.”
The interview is here. The segment dealing with Giuliani segment starts at about the 24-minute mark.
Trump noted that Biden family members who have overseas business interests are allowed to evade the rules.
“I don’t know what they’re looking for or what they’re doing with filings of various papers and lobbying filings. Well, did Hunter [Biden] file? And did [President] Biden file? Because they did a lot of work with other countries. To the best of everbody’s knowledge, they didn’t file,” he said.
“It’s a very, very unfair situation,” he said. “You have to understand. Rudy loves this country so much. It is so terrible when you see the things going on in our country with the corruption and the problems and then they go after Rudy Giuliani. It’s very said, actually.”
According to The Times, Robert Costello, who is representing Giuliani, said the search was not necessary because Giuliani offered to answer questions with the exception of privileged information between Giuliani and Giuliani’s clients.
“What they did today was legal thuggery,” Costello told the newspaper.
In a statement to the New York Post, Costello went even further.
“It is outrageous that the Trump Derangement Syndrome has gone so far that hatred has driven this unjustified and unethical attack on the United States Attorney and Mayor who did more to reduce crime than virtually any other in American history,” the statement said.
The statement accused the Justice Department of “running roughshod over the constitutional rights of anyone involved in, or legally defending, former President Donald J. Trump.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the raid may well mean less than it seems.
“I’m very suspicious of a lot of this stuff. We’ve been told a 1,000 times that everybody in the Trumpworld was a Russian agent. It turned out to be not accurate,” Graham said, according to the New York Post.
“I’ve known Rudy for a long time. Because somebody issues a search warrant doesn’t mean you’re guilty.”
He said the history of federal investigators dealing with the Trump administration means no one should jump to conclusions.
“I’m very skeptical of this area, given what I’ve seen by the FBI and the Mueller investigation. I think the people who are investigating the Ukraine and Russia under Trump have a heightened scrutiny. And Rudy, like everybody else, is presumed innocent,” Graham told the Post.
“A search warrant can be issued depending on who the judge is pretty easily. Let’s see what happens. But the past abuse of power should alarm everyone. And let’s don’t jump the gun.”
