FBI agents seized several of former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani's electronic devices after executing a search warrant at his Manhattan apartment on Wednesday.
In an interview on the Thursday broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Giuliani said the FBI agents showed no interest in the electronic hard drives from Hunter Biden's laptop, which Giuliani said he would turn over and which he said technically "fall within the scope of the subpoena."
"At the end of the search, when they had taken about, I would say, seven or eight electronic items of mine ... they weren't taking the three hard drives, which of course, are electronic devices. They just mimic the computer. I said, 'Well, don't you want these?' And they said, 'What are they? I said, 'Those are Hunter Biden's hard drives. And they said 'no, no, no.' "
Giuliani said he offered to turn over the hard drives three times before the agents got visibly "perturbed."
"I said, 'Are you sure you don't want them? I mean the warrant required them to take it,' " he explained, and "they said, 'No, no, no.' One last time, I said, 'Don't you think you should take it?' And they said, 'No.' "
Giuliani added that the agents were "completely content to rely on my word that these were Hunter Biden's hard drives. I mean, they could have been Donald Trump's. They could have been Vladimir Putin's. They could have been anybody's. But they relied on me, the man who had to be raided in the morning, because — I'm going to destroy the evidence? I've known about this for two years, Tucker. I could have destroyed the evidence. The evidence is exculpatory. It proves the president and I and all of us are innocent. They are the ones who are committing — it's like projection. They are committing the crimes."
According to Giuliani's attorney Robert Costello, seven FBI agents arrived at the apartment at 6 a.m. and remained for roughly two hours. The agents seized several electronic devices including laptops and cell phones.
"This is totally unnecessary," Costello told Fox News, claiming that the raid was done to "make him look like he's some sort of criminal."
Giuliani recalled being woken by a loud "bang" on his door and being greeted by seven FBI agents at his door with a search warrant.
"I looked at the warrant, and I said, 'You know, this is extraordinary because I offered to give these to the government and talk it over with them for two years,'" he told Carlson.
"The search warrant is on one single failure to file for representing a Ukrainian national or official that I never represented," Giuliani said.
Federal investigators have been aggressive in their pursuit of former President Trump and his supporters in the years before, during and after his administration. Critics have noted that the Department of Justice has given a pass to illegal activities involving prominent Democrats including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other key officials in the Barack Obama administration.
Giuliani served as United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983. He led the 1980s federal prosecution of New York City mafia bosses as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
In April 2018, Giuliani joined President Donald Trump's personal legal team, putting him in the crosshairs of the media-political Left and the Department of Justice which launched an offensive against the former president and his supporters in 2016 which did not end even when Team Biden took power earlier this year.
Fox News reported that the warrant was based on suspicion that Giuliani violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in lobbying on behalf of Ukraine.
The New York Times reported that investigators are looking into Giuliani's alleged role in the recall of Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who was removed from her post in spring 2019.
The Department of Justice reportedly lifted its objection to the warrant after leftist Merrick Garland was confirmed as attorney general.
USAF Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (Ret) noted in a Telegram post:
"100% related to Hunter Biden's laptop situation. Giuliani's electronic equipment has reportedly been seized. I am concerned about his cell phone being seized. I can confirm to you all Rudy Giuliani will not be prosecuted. This is another Matt Gaetz situation. Nothing can stop what's coming."
NBC News reported in December that federal prosecutors for the SDNY (Southern District of New York) were actively working to seize Giuliani’s electronic communications.
"Gestapo thugs for the SDNY have been working with DOJ officials in D.C. about gaining access to Giuliani’s emails and they need Washington’s stamp of approval before they can ask a judge for a search warrant," Gateway Pundit noted at the time.
“This looks like prosecutorial harassment of a political opponent,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell told The Washington Times. “It seems to me the Biden administration is punishing Trump supporters.”
Ross Baker, a politics professor at Rutgers University, called the raid on Giuliani “tit-for-tat politics in its fullest flowering.” Baker added he expects to see grumbles about the lack of door-busting against politicos on the Left.
“The raid on Giuliani’s home and office,” he said, “is certainly going to set up a cry for forced entry into Hunter Biden’s laptop and an investigation into Hillary’s emails to Anthony Weiner or George Soros.”
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