Giuliani refused to discuss congressional Republicans' involvement with efforts to overturn election: report

On Tuesday, The Guardianreported that during his nine-hour testimony to Congress, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani allegedly refused to discuss Republican lawmakers' involvement with the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

"The move by Giuliani to refuse to give insight into Republican involvement could mean his appearance only marginally advanced the inquiry into his ploy to have then-vice president Mike Pence unlawfully keep Trump in office after he lost to Joe Biden," reported Hugo Lowell. "Giuliani asserted privilege and the work-product doctrine to decline to respond when asked to detail the roles played by House and Senate Republicans in the scheme to stop Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory on 6 January 2021, the sources said."

"The panel was not expecting Giuliani to divulge damning information against Trump, since committee counsel had agreed with Giuliani in advance that he should not have to violate legitimate claims of privilege he might have as the former president’s attorney," the report noted. "But Giuliani’s refusal to engage with questions about House and Senate Republicans frustrated the select committee, the sources said, not least because Giuliani personally urged them to object to Biden’s victory to delay its certification from occurring."

Giuliani did not leave the committee totally empty-handed, however.

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According to the report, he provided extensive information about an Oval Office meeting in which conspiracy theorist attorney Sidney Powell urged Trump to deploy the National Guard to seize voting machines. He claimed that while he opposed Powell's plan, he still believed the election was stolen and urged Trump to move ahead with John Eastman's plan to have Mike Pence overturn the vote.

Giuliani, who famously called for "trial by combat" at Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally shortly before the Capitol was attacked on January 6, has publicly claimed the select committee investigating the matter is a "total set-up."