Benjamin Hart writes:

On Wednesday, federal agents raided Rudy Giuliani’s apartment as part of an investigation into his dealings in Ukraine, which included digging up dirt on Joe Biden in that country. The investigation is being led by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. I spoke with Preet Bharara, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the district from 2009 to 2017 — and whose podcast, Stay Tuned, was recently acquired by Vox Media — about Giuliani’s predicament and where the investigation might go next.

How significant is this move by the Feds from your perspective? How much legal danger does Giuliani face here?

I think it’s extremely significant. I’m not one to say that when routine subpoenas are issued or interviews are conducted, but here you have a very prominent person — not just the former lawyer to the president of the United States but also the former U.S. Attorney of the office that’s involved in the investigation. The fact that you execute a warrant on someone’s residence does not necessarily mean there will be a charge, but given the circumstances, given the identity of Mr. Giuliani, given what you have to show to get a judge to authorize the warrant and the search — that’s a sign that he’s in deep trouble. We saw this play out with respect to Michael Cohen and to Paul Manafort. Very prominent targets, very sensitive cases. Both of those men were charged. [Continue reading…]