哥伦比亚特区律师协会的纪律顾问周四要求取消鲁迪·朱利安尼的律师资格，此前初步调查发现，朱利安尼违反了至少一项律师执业规则，当时作为时任总统唐纳德·特朗普的律师，他提出了一项毫无根据的失败建议法律挑战宾夕法尼亚州2020年的选举结果。
“这种情况下，不当行为的严重性，只需要一种制裁，那就是取消律师资格，”华盛顿特区律师协会的律师菲尔·福克斯在华盛顿的纪律听证会上说。“我认为这是对国家结构的根本性伤害，很可能无法挽回。”
周四的听证会只是可能导致朱利安尼在首都被取消律师资格的漫长过程中的一步。他的律师执照已经已经被停职了-但没有被撤销-在纽约，一家法院去年发现他对他试图推翻2020年选举结果的行为做出了“明显虚假和误导性的陈述”。朱利安尼已经对此判决提出上诉。
朱利安尼的律师约翰·利文塔尔周四表示，朱利安尼对国家的贡献减轻了哥伦比亚特区取消他律师资格的必要性。
“让我们把政治排除在这个等式之外，像对待其他律师一样对待朱利安尼先生，”莱文塔尔说。
莱文塔尔说，“一封申斥信或私下告诫”会更合适。
福克斯称朱利安尼曾担任纽约南区联邦检察官纽约市市长“令人钦佩”，但告诉纪律委员会，这并不能证明比取消律师资格更轻的处罚是正当的。
President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani speaks during a Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee public hearing, Nov. 25, 2020, in Gettysburg, Pa.
塞缪尔·科勒姆/盖蒂图片社
“这就像是两个不同的人，”福克斯在听证会上说。“有一个人对9/11做出了很少有人能做出的反应...有人试图在没有依据的情况下破坏总统选举的合法性。”
“我个人反对福克斯先生对我的攻击，因为我试图破坏美国的民主，而记录中没有一个事实支持这一论点，”朱利安尼回应道，利文塔尔和另一名辩护律师巴里·卡明斯敦促他停止。“这是典型的不道德的廉价攻击。”
预计纪律委员会将在2月底或3月初做出决定。特区上诉法院将对朱利安尼是否被取消律师资格做出最终决定，这一决定可能会影响他在其他地方从事法律工作的能力。
DC Bar's disciplinary counsel recommends Rudy Giuliani be disbarred
The District of Columbia Bar association's disciplinary counsel called Thursday for Rudy Giuliani's disbarment after a preliminary finding that Giuliani violated at least one rule of attorney practice when, as the attorney for then-President Donald Trump, he pressed a baseless, failedlegal challengeto the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania.
"This case, the seriousness of the misconduct, calls for only one sanction and that is a sanction of disbarment," Phil Fox, a lawyer for the D.C. Bar, said at a disciplinary hearing in Washington. "I think it was a fundamental harm to the fabric of the country that could well be irreparable."
Thursday’s hearing is only a step in a long process that could lead to Giuliani's disbarment in the nation's capital. His law license hasalready been suspended-- but not revoked -- in New York, where a court last year found he made "demonstrably false and misleading statements" about his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Giuliani has appealed the decision.
Giuliani's attorney, John Leventhal, said Thursday that Giuliani's service to the nation mitigated the need for the District of Columbia to disbar him.
"Let's take politics out of this equation and treat Mr. Giuliani like any other lawyer," said Leventhal.
"A letter of reprimand or private admonition" would be more appropriate, Leventhal said.
Fox called Giuliani's previous service as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and asmayor of the city of New York"admirable," but told the disciplinary committee it did not justify a sanction less than disbarment.
"It's like it's two different people," Fox said during the hearing. "There's the person who responded the way very few people could have responded to 9/11 ... and there's the person who tried to undermine the legitimacy of a presidential election without a basis to do so."
"I would like to personally object to Mr. Fox's attack on me as having tried to undermine American democracy when there's not a single fact in the record to support that argument," Giuliani responded as Leventhal and another defense attorney, Barry Kamins, urged him to stop. "It is a typical unethical cheap attack."
A decision from the disciplinary committee is expected in late February or early March. The D.C. Court of Appeals would make a final decision on whether Giuliani would be disbarred, a determination that could have consequences on his ability to practice law in other places.
