Giuliani is testifying in Georgia on a criminal investigation into the 2020 US election

ATLANTA, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, testified before a special grand jury in Atlanta on Wednesday in a Georgia criminal inquest investigating attempts by the former US president and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results.

Giuliani, who helped run Trump’s election challenges, spent more than six hours in the Fulton County courthouse after a judge ordered him to comply with a subpoena. His attorneys, who declined to comment on his testimony, said he will refuse to answer questions that violate attorney-client privilege.

The former New York City mayor, 78, appeared before Georgia state lawmakers in December 2020, repeating Trump’s bogus conspiracy theories about stolen ballots and urging them not to confirm Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory over Republican Trump.

“It’s a grand jury and grand juries, as far as I remember, are secret,” Giuliani told CNN upon arriving at the courthouse when asked to comment on his testimony. “You ask the questions and we’ll see.”

[1/4] Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is seen in a vehicle in front of his apartment building after his statutory license was suspended in Manhattan in New York City, New York, the United States, June 24, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Giuliani exited the courthouse through one of the building’s side entrances, local Atlanta media reported.

“We were ordered to be here, we showed up, we did what we had to do,” Giuliani’s attorney Bill Thomas said. “The special grand jury process is a secret process and we will respect that process.”

The Fulton County investigation began after a taped phone call in January 2021 in which Trump urged the state’s top election official to “find” enough votes to change the result. The former president falsely claimed he won Georgia as well as the 2020 presidential contest.

The special grand jury was convened in May at the request of County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Giuliani, a former U.S. crime-fighting attorney, was among several Trump advisers and attorneys who received grand jury subpoenas last month, including U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Written by Rami Ayyub, Editing by Ross Colvin, Howard Goller and Deepa Babington

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