Rudy Giuliani raid should be a signal to Donald Trump and his 'cronies' to beware: legal expert

The recent raid on Rudy Giuliani's home and office by federal agents should be a signal to Donald Trump and his "cronies" to beware, Norman Eisen wrote this Monday in USA Today.

According to Eisen, the search warrants "mark a leap forward in the Department of Justice's look into the past four years of potential illegalities," signaling "turbulent waters ahead for Giuliani and his former client alike."

The warrants, as Eisen points out, are not easily obtained, considering the fact that a judge needs to be convinced of probable cause and the warrants must pass the highest levels of scrutiny at the DOJ.

"From what is public so far, including an acknowledgment from Giuliani himself, federal investigators are looking into whether he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by acting as an unregistered foreign agent for his Ukrainian 'sources.'" Eisen writes. "The evidence I helped present as counsel in the first Trump impeachment showed Giuliani was advancing the agenda of those in Ukraine trying to oust U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch — a staunch corruption fighter who was eventually pushed out."

If prosecutors can prove Giuliani committed crimes such as bribery, he could charged as a co-conspirator under the federal conspiracy statute.

"The raids of Giuliani's home and office last week could produce additional direct, contemporaneous evidence tying him directly to Trump's alleged shakedown of Ukraine," writes Eisen. "Texts, calls, notes or other evidence might very well be on the devices that were seized. Normally, the two men's communications would be privileged as part of the attorney-client relationship."

Read the full op-ed over at USA Today.