--- title: Giuliani Gives Congress the Legalese Version of a Middle Finger description: In two paragraphs sent to House investigators Tuesday, President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani rebuffed a Congressional subpoena. canonical: https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-15T22:50:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:59.093Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rudy Giuliani Gives Congress the Legalese Version of a Middle Finger og:description: An official said Giuliani’s failure to comply will be used as evidence of obstruction og:url: https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ba26d567e4e3ae/698a0455b3fce34b380c5b06/gettyimages-1170749646.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-IRAN-DEMONSTRATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rudy Giuliani Gives Congress the Legalese Version of a Middle Finger twitter:description: An official said Giuliani’s failure to comply will be used as evidence of obstruction twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ba26d567e4e3ae/698a0455b3fce34b380c5b06/gettyimages-1170749646.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rudy Giuliani Gives Congress the Legalese Version of a Middle Finger ## Video: These Are the Key U.S. and Ukrainian Players in the Trump Impeachment Inquiry [Watch (HLS stream): These Are the Key U.S. and Ukrainian Players in the Trump Impeachment Inquiry](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vrG6riq4.m3u8) (3:15)  _Published 2019-10-11. President Donald Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in the wake of a recent whistleblower complaint alleging that he asked Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election_  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Oct 15, 2019 10:50 PM UTC  Rudy Giuliani, Former Mayor of New York City speaks to the Organization of Iranian American Communities during their march to urge "recognition of the Iranian people's right for regime change," outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 24, 2019. Rudy Giuliani, Former Mayor of New York City speaks to the Organization of Iranian American Communities during their march to urge "recognition of the Iranian people's right for regime change," outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 24, 2019.ANGELA WEISS—AFP/Getty Images  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Oct 15, 2019 10:50 PM UTC In two paragraphs sent to House investigators Tuesday, President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani rebuffed a Congressional subpoena to testify in impeachment investigations and provide documents to three committees. “Please accept this response as formal notice that Mr. Giuliani will not participate because this appears to be an unconstitutional, baseless, and illegitimate ‘impeachment inquiry,'” Giuliani’s attorney Jon Sale wrote on Oct. 15 in response to demands from the House Intelligence Committee, House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Sale, a former Watergate prosecutor and a former prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, echoed the White House legal view that the Congressional investigation isn’t legitimate without a full vote of the House. The subpoena sent by House Democrats on Sept. 30 was “overbroad, unduly burdensome, and seeks documents beyond the scope of a legitimate inquiry,” Sale wrote, adding that the documents requests are protected by “attorney-client, attorney work-product, and executive privileges.” In addition, Giuliani adopted the positions and legal analysis that went into the letter from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone on behalf of Donald Trump refusing to cooperate with Congress, Sale wrote. An official working on the impeachment inquiry said that Giuliani’s failure to comply will be used as evidence of obstruction. “If Rudy and the President truly have nothing to hide about their actions, Giuliani will comply,” the official said. Now that he’s helped Giuliani respond to the Congressional subpoena, Sale says he isn’t representing Giuliani anymore. “The task I agreed to undertake is completed, so that ends my representation,” Sale says. Sale said there hasn’t been a falling out between him and Giuliani. “There is absolutely no split between us,” Sale says. Asked if the letter amounted to the legal version of a middle finger, Giuliani cryptically replied with a one word text message: “Great”. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/"},"headline":"Rudy Giuliani Gives Congress the Legalese Version of a Middle Finger","datePublished":"2019-10-15T22:50:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:59.093Z","description":"An official said Giuliani’s failure to comply will be used as evidence of obstruction","url":"https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ba26d567e4e3ae/698a0455b3fce34b380c5b06/gettyimages-1170749646.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ba26d567e4e3ae/698a0455b3fce34b380c5b06/gettyimages-1170749646.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-IRAN-DEMONSTRATION","caption":"US-IRAN-DEMONSTRATION","creditText":"ANGELA WEISS—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/","name":"Rudy Giuliani Gives Congress the Legalese Version of a Middle Finger"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"These Are the Key U.S. and Ukrainian Players in the Trump Impeachment Inquiry","description":"President Donald Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in the wake of a recent whistleblower complaint alleging that he asked Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vrG6riq4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-10-11T19:04:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vrG6riq4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/","duration":"PT3M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5701347/rudy-giuliani-congress-impeachment-inquiry-subpoena/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```