Federal prosecutors told Giuliani on Monday that he was the target of an election meddling probe in Georgia, which has become the focus of intense scrutiny in the wake of the presidential election after voters in the state — which for years chose Republicans as their federal representatives – helped elect Joe Biden and send two Democratic US Senators to Congress. In the weeks after the election, Giuliani falsely claimed that thousands of ineligible voters cast ballots in Georgia and the state’s election systems altered ballots to favor Democrats. On Monday, Giuliani’s former press secretary — Ken Frydman — told CNN that Giuliani is “nervous” about the investigation and said he “flew too close to the sun” in his work for Trump. Last week, Giuliani was ordered by a Fulton County judge to appear before a grand jury related to the investigation, but Giuliani has not yet appeared because he said he is not healthy enough to fly to Georgia. Friedman disputed this claim.
“He knows how the DOJ works. He knows how the FBI works. He knows these are thorough investigations,” Frydman told CNN. “I know he’s nervous. He could have flown to Georgia. You know, he flies all over the world. So this is just a standard tactic to try to delay the inevitable.” Friedman also referred to an appearance Giuliani made at a Georgia state Senate hearing in late 2020 in which he repeated his false election claims, and Friedman said he will likely spend the rest of his life trying to avoid prison. “He knows he concocted this plan. He knows he lied about his client and he knows we all know it,” Friedman told CNN. “I think, at this point in his life, his goal is to die free.” Friedman’s comments echoed comments made Monday by Michael Cohen, who once served as Trump’s personal attorney. Cohen, also speaking on CNN, said Trump would likely “drop [Giuliani] under the bus” in the investigation that led to the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate early last week. In that raid, federal agents seized evidence related to an investigation into whether Trump left the power by having secret documents in his possession instead of returning them to the National Archives. “I think everybody likes a bargain, but Donald Trump really likes a bargain,” Cohen told CNN. “And I think Rudy’s is like BOGO — buy one, get half off. They will throw him under the bus to Mar-a-Lago. And at the same time, they will throw him off the bus to Georgia.”