Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani arrives at his mansion in Manhattan in New York City, New York, on June 24, 2021 after his bar license is suspended.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Mike Lindell, Chief Executive Officer of My Pillow Inc., speaks to media representatives upon his arrival in federal court in Washington, DC, United States on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The temporary suspension came the day before Giuliani’s 52nd anniversary as a licensed attorney in New York. It will remain in force pending the outcome of a formal disciplinary hearing.
Giuliani spoke quickly. He appeared before reporters outside his home on Manhattan’s Tony Upper East Side to criticize the appellate judges’ “ridiculous” decision.
“They just listen to false allegations made by the Democrats,” Giuliani said, NBC News reported.
“If you want to say that I said something irresponsible, you have to give me a chance to defend myself,” Giuliani allegedly said, lamenting that “only Trump lawyers are being investigated.”
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But Giuliani was nowhere to be seen later Thursday when U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols heard arguments over whether three separate libel cases should be dismissed by Dominion Voting Systems.
Sibley and Arthur Aidala, another of Giuliani’s attorneys, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment on the Dominion hearing.
Dominion argues separately in the lawsuits that Giuliani, Lindell and Powell each damaged their reputations by making dozen of false and misleading claims about the company and its role in the competition between Trump and President Joe Biden.
Sibley filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in April, arguing that Dominion’s appeal claims were not brought in accordance with the court’s due process standards.
This argument differed from one of Powell’s attorneys, who in part argued that “no sane person” would believe that their false claims and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election were “true statements of fact.”
Dominion, which operated voting machines in numerous states during the 2020 election cycle, is demanding approximately $ 1.3 billion in damages in each of these cases. Dominion has also sued Fox News for $ 1.6 billion, accusing the network of falsely claiming it rigged the election. Fox dismissed the case.
At the beginning of the hearing, Dominion attorney Thomas Clare introduced CEO Poulos, who was sitting at the legal table.
Clare followed Andrew Parker, of the MyPillow legal team, who found that Dershowitz, described as “part of the MyPillow legal team,” was there by phone.
Dershowitz, the former Harvard law professor and former Trump impeachment attorney, had previously told CNBC that he was playing an “extremely limited” role in the trial.
Parker said Dershowitz could not appear in person “because he could not travel because of an operation”.
Lindell himself was present at the hearing, according to his attorney Douglas Daniels, who specifically introduced him to Nichols. “I would like to introduce Mr. Mike Lindell to the court,” said the chairman’s attorney.
Sibley followed and said to the judge, “It’s just me.”
After him, Powell attorney Howard Kleinhendler said at his introduction, “I would also like to warn the court that Ms. Powell is here.”
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– CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
