Giuliani refuses to comply with congressional subpoena, calls inquiry 'a joke'

President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday he is refusing to comply with a subpoena from Congress.

Giuliani, who was subpoenaed for documents related to his communications with Ukraine as part of the House's impeachment inquiry, told ABC News he won't provide them.

"If they enforce it then we will see what happens," Giuliani said of the subpoena. He also revealed to ABC News that he is no longer being represented by attorney Jon Sale, whose hiring he announced two weeks ago. Sale told BuzzFeed News' Zoe Tillman he was always planning to only help Giuliani respond to this subpoena.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Tuesday was the deadline for Giuliani to comply with the subpoena. In a letter late last month, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), and House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) cited the whistleblower complaint alleging Trump abused his power in an attempt to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as Giuliani having admitted he asked Ukraine to do so.

"I consider their inquiry to be a joke," Giuliani told The New York Daily News Tuesday, calling it an "an abomination of due process."

Sale in a letter to Congress says Giuliani "will not participate because this appears to be an unconstitutional, baseless, and illegitimate 'impeachment inquiry'" and because the subpoena is "overbroad, unduly burdensome" and seeks documents that are "protected by attorney-client, attorney work-product, and executive privileges."

CNN reports people close to Giuliani have been urging him to hire a criminal lawyer, but Giuliani, in reference to no longer being represented by Sale, told the Daily News it's "silly to have a lawyer when I don't need one."