Rudy Giuliani interviewed by special counsel over 2020 election interference attempts, says report

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s former attorney, was questioned by investigators with the Justice Department special counsel’s office over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in battleground states.

A spokesperson for Mr Giuliani confirmed the meeting with the special counsel, saying it was voluntary.

"The appearance was entirely voluntary and conducted in a professional manner," Ted Goodman said in a statement to Associated Press.

The meeting with the grand jury and Mr Giuliani’s attorney Robert Costello happened in recent weeks, sources familiar with the meeting said.

The sources declined to reveal what questions were asked by the investigators during the meeting.

The interview of Mr Giuliani with special counsel was first reported by CNN.

Some of the questions by federal investigators to Mr Giuliani centred around top Trump lawyers actions, including himself, during the elections and questions about baseless claims of voter fraud, sources familiar with the meeting told CNN.

Prosecutors in the investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith have not yet announced any charges related to efforts aimed at impeding the certification of the 2020 presidential election, suggested sources familiar with the case.

However, prosecutors are approaching their charges in the near future, they said.

It comes as Mr Smith is leading efforts to scrutinize Mr Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the result of the elections in weeks leading up to 6 January 2021 Capitol riots by supporters of the former president.

He filed a separate case earlier this month charging Mr Trump with illegally retaining classified documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.

Mr Giuliani, who pushed bogus legal challenges to the victory of Joe Biden in elections as a part of Mr Trump’s legal team, became a key figure in investigations for his efforts.

The former president’s legal team filed lawsuits in battleground states raising unsubstantiated claims of vast election fraud even though officials, including Mr Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, said no such pervasive problems existed.

Last year, he underwent interviews with both a House committee investigating the events leading up to the January 6 attack and prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia. The investigations in question were focused on efforts to undermine the election in that particular state.

He was subpoenaed late last year to turn over the records to a grand jury in investigations into Mr Trump’s fundraisings following the 2020 elections.

For several months, prosecutors from the Justice Department have been investigating the involvement of legal advisers to former president Trump in their efforts to overturn the election.

In July last year, John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who assisted Mr Trump in challenging the election results, revealed that federal agents had confiscated his phone.