Giuliani says in deposition he ‘didn’t have the time’ to verify election claims: CNN

Rudy Giuliani, who served as Former President Trump’s personal attorney, said during a deposition in mid-August that he “didn’t have the time” to look into whether reports of election fraud were credible, CNN, which obtained deposition tapes, reported Friday.

Giuliani is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems after he and other defendants connected to the former president repeatedly made claims, without evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged by Dominion Voting Systems in favor of Joe Biden. 

“We had a report that the heads of Dominion and Smartmatic, somewhere in the mid-tweens, you know 2013, 2014, whatever, went down to Venezuela for a get-to-know meeting with [President Nicolás] Maduro so they could demonstrate to Maduro the kind of vote fixing they did for [former President Hugo] Chavez,” Giuliani is shown saying during his deposition footage.

“You say the heads of Dominion and Smartmatic,” an attorney for former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer said, according to CNN.

“Yes, that’s what I was told. … Before the press conference I was told about it,” Giuliani answered. “Sometimes I go and look myself — when stuff comes up. This time I didn’t have the time to do it.”

“It’s not my job, in a fast-moving case, to go out and investigate every piece of evidence that was given to me. Otherwise, you’re never going to write a story. You’ll never come to a conclusion,” the former Trump lawyer added, according to CNN. 

CNN also reported that deposition footage in July showed former Trump attorney Sidney Powell saying she did not take it upon herself to dispute misstatements she had made. 

“You had the ear of a number of conservative media outlets. Why did you not ask to provide a statement correcting these misstatements that you had reported?” an attorney for Coomer asked her, according to CNN.

“That didn’t seem to be the material part of the inquiry,” Powell answered. 

The Hill has reached out to Giuliani, Coomer’s lawyers and Powell for comment.

Powell, Giuliani and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell are all facing lawsuits by Dominion Voting Systems. 

In August, a judge ruled that lawsuits against all three could proceed after pushing back at legal challenges that claimed the D.C. court lacked jurisdiction to weigh in on the case and that the statements they made were either not made with malicious intent or protected opinions.