Prosecutors do not plan criminal charges against Rudy Giuliani in connection with Ukraine

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Federal prosecutors investigating Rudy Giuliani’s work in Ukraine say they do not plan to criminally charge him.

In a letter to a judge on Monday, prosecutors in New York said they do not plan to bring charges against the former mayor and adviser to former president Donald Trump over his interactions with Ukrainian figures.

The decision was made after a review of evidence resulting from raids on his residence and law office in April 2021.

Federal prosecutors were investigating whether or not Mr Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine in the run-up to the 2020 election required him to register as a foreign agent. It was the same issue that eventually ensnared Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, after he was accused of illegally hiding his work for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine.

A grand jury probe that led to the issuance of warrants that resulted in the seizure of Mr Giuliani’s electronic devices has now concluded, they said. Based on the information currently available, criminal charges would not be forthcoming.

“In my business, we would call that total victory,” Mr Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, told The Associated Press. “We appreciate what the US attorney has done. We only wish they had done it a lot sooner.”

The probe is one of a handful that have surrounded the former president and his legal team, and was arguably the least consequential.

Members of Mr Trump’s campaign legal counsel have been named as targets in an investigation being headed up by criminal prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, regarding their efforts to overturn the election in that state; Mr Giuliani is thought to be among the targets. And the Justice Department continues to pursue a grand jury investigation in to January 6 in Washington DC as well.

Mr Giuliani was suspended from practicing law in the state of New York in response to his efforts throughout 2020 to spread false claims and conspiratorial nonsense about wide-scale voter fraud and a supposed effort to prevent Donald Trump from winning the election. He also faces disciplinary action pending in Washington DC.

The ex-New York City mayor was widely mocked for his efforts to support the ex-president through the campaign to overturn the election, and would later be heard on a recording obtained by the January 6 committee admitting that the Trump campaign did not have the evidence it needed to prove the claims of fraud it had made.