Former NSW Liberal minister John Sidoti has lashed the independent corruption watchdog in an emotional speech before he was suspended from parliament weeks after being found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct.
The government, along with the opposition, on Tuesday voted to suspend Sidoti from the Legislative Assembly after he refused to resign following the corruption finding.
NSW MP John Sidoti addresses the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday before being suspended from parliament.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption last month found Sidoti had engaged in corrupt conduct to benefit his family’s property interests in Sydney’s inner west between late 2013 and early 2017.
Sidoti became emotional during his speech to the lower house during the suspension motion, criticizing the ICAC, which he described as an out-of-control “Frankenstein monster,” and urged Labor leader Chris Minns to reform the agency if he wins government next year .
“This Frankenstein monster is out of control and nobody is safe. Reform the beast before it takes a bite out of you too,” he said.
The ICAC found Sidoti persistently emailed, telephoned and sought meetings with councilors in the lead-up to every council meeting at which relevant planning matters were to be discussed.
He also directed the councillors’ attendance at meetings, berated them for non-attendance, and implied their positions on Canada Bay Council could be threatened if they did not advance the positions he wanted.
When the councilors refused to comply, Sidoti withdrew his endorsement for those of them who were contesting the 2017 council election.
GREENWOOD, Miss. — A grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, despite revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and a newly revealed memoir by the woman, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
A Leflore County grand jury considered evidence and testimony regarding Carolyn Bryant Donham’s involvement in the kidnapping and death of Till, Leflore County District Attorney Dewayne Richardson said in a news release.
After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses, the grand jury determined that there was not sufficient evidence to indict Donham, Richardson said. Charges of both kidnapping and manslaughter were considered.
The news that the grand jury had declined to charge Donham makes it increasingly unlikely that she will ever be prosecuted for her role in the events that led to Till’s death.
A group searching the basement of the Leflore County Courthouse in June discovered the unserved arrest warrant charging Donham, then-husband Roy Bryant and brother-in-law JW Milam in Till’s abduction in 1955. While the men were arrested and acquitted on murder charges in Till’s subsequent slaying, Donham, 21 at the time and 87 now, was never taken into custody.
In an unpublished memoir obtained last month by The Associated Press, Donham said she was unaware of what would happen to the 14-year-old Till, who lived in Chicago and was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was abducted, killed and tossed in a river. She accused him of making lewd comments and grabbing her while she worked alone at a family store in Money, Mississippi.
Donham said in the manuscript that the men brought Till to her in the middle of the night for identification but that she tried to help the youth by denying it was him. Despite being abducted at gunpoint from a family home by Roy Bryant and Milam, the 14-year-old identified himself to the men, she claimed.
Till’s battered, disfigured body was found days later in a river, where it was weighted down with a heavy metal fan. The decision by his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, to open Till’s casket for his funeral in Chicago demonstrated the horror of what had happened and added fuel to the civil rights movement.
Riot Games has had another go at balancing Chamber in Valorant’s patch 5.03, tweaking each ability in his arsenal to make him less dominant.
The sentinel character has become a popular sight in both ranked queue and the pro Valorant scene, making him a touch unavoidable at the moment. It also means that Chamber mains have figured him out to the point that his weaknesses are harder to exploit than Riot would like.
“As players in both ranked and pro play have mastered Chamber, his strengths have started to overshadow his weaknesses, making the counterplay to Rendezvous and his arsenal not as effective as we’d hoped,” Riot says. “He’s Chamber’s overall strength has also felt outsized, and we believe that we can reduce the complete power of his kit while still keeping him competitive with the rest of the roster.”
As you can imagine, it is indeed Chamber’s Rendezvous ability that has seen the most work. Base and recall cooldowns have been increased to 30 seconds, though that can extend further to 45 seconds if someone destroys an anchor. You’ll also need to stand closer to the Rendezvous to use it.
“Chamber’s Rendezvous is intended to be powerful at holding space, but the generous radius allowed him to take that space with more aggression than intended,” Riot says.
“This change should require the Chamber to exert more effort to access off-angles. We hope that a harsher punishment for destroyed Rendezvous anchors, and the reduced radius will demand Chamber mains to be more careful in their use. This change also brings the counterplay of Chamber’s destructible objects more in line with the behavior of other destructible objects in the game.”
Riot has also decreased the slow duration of Chamber’s Trademark and Tour De Force abilities while increasing the bullet cost for the Headhunter move. “It’s important that Headhunter is a powerful sidearm for Chamber but at its current price point Chamber doesn’t have to engage in making difficult economic decisions as meaningfully as other Agents,” Riot adds.
“This should most noticeably impact Chamber’s decision making on pistol rounds and save rounds. The ultimate point change to Tour De Force is also working towards this goal.”
Elsewhere, Riot has significantly changed agent Neon’s ultimate, Overdrive. The speedster now does more damage to enemies if she hits them in the head, though general power is down, especially if you only hit someone in the leg. Though not everyone is happy about it, the idea is to reward accuracy.
Valorant and CS:GO players unite over footage of an absurdly chaotic firefight
Yon 2004, when Claire was a teenager, she got a Saturday job at her local newsagents. She was soon spotted by one of the paper boys, Curtis. “A few of my friends did the paper round with me and they knew Claire worked in the shop,” he says. “It was obvious I liked her, so they suggested I buy something from her so I could talk to her.” His plan of her to impress her of her did n’t go well. “I went in for a Snickers and when I tried to pay she slammed it down on the counter so quickly there was no time to talk. I just ended up with a chocolate bar I didn’t want,” he laughs.
“We had grown up in the same area, so I had seen him around but we never hung out,” says Claire. “I don’t remember being standoffish but it was probably a bit awkward.” Curtis admits he was a bit intimidated by her. “There was a hierarchy in the shop and the Saturday girl was definitely a tier above the paperboys,” he says. “She seemed so cool and looked pristine. We were soggy from the rain and mud, after falling over with our bikes.”
Assuming she wasn’t interested, he gave up trying to talk to her. Two years later, they were introduced to each other at sixth form college, but they didn’t develop a friendship. “Ella She was going out with someone else and I thought it was a lost cause,” he says.
Claire thought he was unapproachable. “We used to get off the bus at the same stop and walk different ways. But I always felt as if he didn’t like me. I felt like he was glaring at me,” she remembers.
When Curtis returned home from university in 2010, he found a job with the Co-op, while Claire became an optician. When friends of Curtis’s added Claire on Facebook, she saw his name de ella and sent him a friend request. They soon began chatting and realized they got on “really well”. After exchanging phone numbers, the pair started texting each other. “I hadn’t seen him for such a long time but I really liked him,” says Claire. “He was much easier to talk to and he seemed like a really cool person. I have used to do a lot of DJing in Manchester.”
‘I’ve not been well lately and it’s made me realize how much he cares for me’ … Claire and Curtis at a fancy dress party in 2021. Photograph: Provided by Claire and Curtis
In February 2011, they bumped into each other on a night out. “I couldn’t believe how friendly she was,” says Curtis. “She seemed engaging and interested in me. It felt a bit too good to be true.” Claire admits she “deliberately took” his beanie hat from her so she would have to see him again.
The following week, they arranged to go out for drinks. “It was Valentine’s Day and Curtis made me a card,” says Claire. “We have been pretty much inseparable since then.”
They began dating exclusively, regularly going on nights out, trips to the cinema and spending time at each other’s houses. In January 2014, they bought their own place in north Manchester. They married three years later and live together with their dog. Claire still works as an optician, while Curtis does IT security for a bank.
Curtis loves that Claire is the driving force in their relationship. “I really gravitate towards her. She comes up with ideas and always has the motivation to do something,” he says. “It’s just really easy to love her.”
Claire describes her husband as her rock. “I’ve not been well lately and it’s made me realize how much he cares for me. I could never have done it without him,” she says. Although some people think they’re “like chalk and cheese”, she believes their personalities complement each other. “He’s very caring and sensitive – but in a good way. I’d book a holiday every weekend but he keeps me grounded. Over time we have grown up and matured together.”
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A young family, who went missing for two days while traveling from Queensland to New South Wales, was forced to drink water from a roadside puddle to survive and used a car mirror to get the attention of a search aircraft.
The harrowing details emerged on Tuesday night after Darian Aspinall, 27, her two kids Winter Bellamy, 2, and Koda Bellamy, 4, and their grandmother Leah Gooding, 50, were found safe and well on Tuesday, two days after they were last seen on Sunday.
The family were found near Tiboobura in NSW, and were being transported to hospital for assessment following an emotional reunion with Darian’s fiancé Linny Bellamy.
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Speaking with 7NEWS, Bellamy said his loved ones had to take drastic measures in order to survive in the outback of NSW.
That meant getting sustenance from a roadside puddle and making themselves visible to aircraft by using a car mirror
The family were reunited on Tuesday afternoon. Credit: 7NEWS
“I can’t believe they managed to stay as strong as they did… they looked after each other and just tried to ration everything out,” Linny said.
Darian’s fiancé Linny Bellamy told 7NEWS he was traveling behind the young family. Credit: 7NEWS
A visibly relieved Linny added that despite being “a bit tired”, his family seemed like their normal selves.
“My daughter said hello and told me she loved me… I haven’t spoken to my son yet, but I’ll speak to him soon,” he said.
The family were moving back to Adelaide, where they were originally from, after spending a year living in Queensland.
They embarked on the journey to Adelaide after leaving the Noccundra Hotel in southwest Queensland between 12.30pm and 3pm on Sunday and were heading to accommodation in the remote far northwest NSW township of Packsaddle along the way.
Linny told 7NEWS he was traveling behind the young family in a truck full of their belongings right before they went missing.
Linny says his family had taken a different route along the way, believing they could get through a road badly affected by the weather, despite advice against taking that road from hotel staff at the Tibooburra Hotel, near Packsaddle.
Darian Aspinall, 27. Credit: NSW Police
But when they failed to turn up at their destination, and Linny hadn’t heard from them, he contacted police.
“They’re my world… but I don’t know what I’d do without them,” he said.
In an update earlier on Tuesday, police said they had begun a major search across Tibooburra, Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Packsaddle and surrounds, with assistance from the Missing Persons Registry, and Queensland and South Australia Police.
But by Tuesday afternoon the missing quartet had been found.
“Following inquiries, a search and rescue helicopter located a vehicle off-track, about 50km southeast of Tibooburra, about 4.15pm on Tuesday,” NSW Police said in a statement.
A 12-year-old Alabamaboy “unintentionally” shot and killed his mother over the weekend in their home after initially making up a story about how she died, according to authorities.
The child, who has not been publicly identified, discharged a firearm early Saturday morning, killinghis mother, 29-year-old Ayobiyi Cook, in Forestdale, Ala., authorities said. Cook’s husband, a police officer in nearby Birmingham, was at work at the time of the incident, Birmingham police confirmed to The Washington Post.
Detectives said evidence shows the incident appears to have been unintentional. The case will be handled in the family court system.
No further details were immediately available, including to whom the gun belonged and how the child got it. A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond early Tuesday to a request for comment.
How often do children in the US unintentionally shoot and kill people? We don’t know.
Officials with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said the boy admitted to the incident after first fabricating a story about what had happened. In an initial statement, authorities said a 911 call came in just after midnight Saturday. When police arrived, Cook was founddead, authorities said.
There “appeared to be no forced entry into the home,” but “a man was seen fleeing from the residence,” authorities said in a statement.Detectives were unable to recover evidence, according to the statement.
But the story soon changed. Detectives said in an updated statement that it was determined the boy’s account “was not possible” and that “the child eventually gave a true account of what happened.”
So far in 2022, there have been 169 unintentional shootings by children in the United States, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit group that advocates for gun control. Of those, 104 people were injured and 74 people were killed, data shows. One case occurred in June, when a Florida mother was arrested and charged with a manslaughter by culpable negligence after her 2-year-old son found a firearm and fatally shot her father.
At least seven such cases have occurred this year in Alabama, resulting in six injuries and three deaths, according to Everytown.
Officials with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office called Saturday’s shooting a “tragedy.”
“The family has been cooperative throughout the process and the child will remain with them,” according to the statement. “This offense is a tragedy for the Cook family and the entire community.”
On June 8, witnesses of gun violence, their family members and others testified to Congress on mass shootings, including those in Uvalde, Tex., and Buffalo. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
Google and Sonos are headed back to court. After Google lost an earlier patent case over speaker volume controls, Google is now suing Sonos over voice control technology. Google confirmed the lawsuit to The Verge this morning, with the company saying it wants to “defend our technology and challenge Sonos’s clear, continued infringement of our patents.” Google alleges infringement of seven patents related to voice input, including hot-word detection and a system that determines which speaker in a group should respond to voice commands.
Sonos has typically supported the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa for voice control, but Google and Amazon are also Sonos’s biggest speaker competitors. So Sonos launched its own voice assistant feature in May, opening it up to this new pile of Google patents. (For now, Sonos supports all three options.)
Google rarely uses patents offensively, but this is part of a multi-lawsuit battle that has sent the company’s smart speaker line reeling after Google lost a previous ruling in January. Rather than pay royalties to Sonos, Google decided to reach into customers’ homes and start breaking devices they had already bought. Google stripped Nest Audio and Google Home speakers of the ability to control volume for a speaker group, turning what was an effortless and common-sense task into an order requiring a screen full of individual sliders. It’s hard to overstate how annoying this is for consumers, as volume control is a primary function of any speaker.
Sonos originated the connected speaker concept, but it has been facing competition from Big Tech giants in recent years. Sonos says it gave Google an inside look at its operations in 2013 while Sonos was asking for Google Play Music support and that Google used that access to “blatantly and knowingly copy” Sonos’s technology. Google’s first smart speaker launched three years later.
After the shock of Joel and Elle quitting and the arrival of replacement team Rachel and Ryan, our Blockheads look forward and launch into the biggest Bathroom Week in Block history.
Why is it the biggest? Because the winner will walk away with an eye-watering $250,000 bonus prize.
Stream the latest episodes of The Block for free on 9Now.
Tom, who is conveniently a plumber, adds up the pressure to win Bathroom Week.
“If you win this week, you’re gonna win $10,000 for the week, plus $250,000 for the kitchen, plus $10,000 again because you’re probably gonna win Kitchen Week,” he explains.
With so much at stake, Ankur and Sharon want to make sure that it’s fair play.
And so too does Foreman Keith. He is on Ankur and Sharon’s case about the amount of trade cars they have on their site blocking important access points.
Ankur tells the cameras about Foreman Keith’s stern warning to them. “He said, ‘Mate, you’ve got too many trade cars up at your sight. You will be shut down if you don’t get rid of them.'”
While Ankur and Sharon spend lots of time rectifying their mistake and doing things by the book, it comes to their attention that Omar and Oz have trade cars parked all around their site too.
“I don’t think everyone’s doing the right thing because as you can see next door – not to dob them in – they’ve still got all their utes and stuff there,” Sharon spills to the cameras.
Ankur goes a step further and makes a point of it to Foreman Keith.
Ankur dobs Omar and Oz in to Foreman Keith. (Nine)
“Not to be a dibber dobber by any sense, but just for fairness, House 5 is the same,” Ankur tells Keith.
“I sound like a dibber dobber but I’m not,” Ankur adds.
It sounds a bit like dobbing to us.
Foreman Keith agrees that House 5 “is out of control” and makes his way over to Omar and Oz.
“Now, I remember this morning telling you to remove the vehicles,” Keith reminds the boys.
“We have rules on The Block for a reason. So lads you haven’t listened to me and you’re going to learn, we’re going to have an hour off,” Keith says, shutting down Omar and Oz’s site.
Foreman Keith shuts down Omar and Oz’s site. (Nine)
Omar and Oz agree that they should’ve just listened in the first place but they’re privy to the fact that Ankur and Sharon dobbed them in.
The husband and wife hope their tattle tailing ways haven’t landed them in hot water with the other team. Like Sharon says, “Snitches get stitches.”
Foreman Keith is clearly unhappy with the team. (Nine)
The boys take the shutdown in their stride, but are annoyed when Ankur and Sharon deny snitching on them.
Even though it’s only an hour, the shutdown sets Omar and Oz back in a big way. They’re unable to finish their floor or walls and won’t make Waterproof Wednesday.
Omar and Oz are suspicious of Ankur and Sharon. (Nine)
Elsewhere on The BlockDylan and Jenny have their hearts set on a raked ceiling. They call on Foremen Keith and Dan to approve their plans and their exact words are “We’ll see what we can do.”
Dylan and Jenny take it as a green light of sorts and decide to get started on their unapproved plans to save time.
Their plan to get ahead backfires when their raked ceiling doesn’t get the tick of approval from Keith and Dan, leaving them to spend hours worth of work.
Tom and Sarah-Jane also suffer a setback as the horrible windy and wet weather holds up their plastering, plumbing and electric work for eight hours.
(Nine)
But most importantly, the rain is also getting in the way of Sarah-Jane’s beauty sleep. And while husband Tom loves the outdoors, Sarah-Jane is less accustomed to sleeping in a tent.
Tom saves the day by getting his wife a caravan. While it’s definitely a step up from the tent they were sleeping in, it turns out the caravan isn’t waterproof.
New kids on The Block Rachel and Ryan consider themselves bathroom experts and are so far ahead they’re confident that they can bag the $250,000 prize.
But their dream run comes to an end when they have to decide between their show-stopping design or finishing their bathroom.
In the end Foreman Keith says “the entire group is behind the eight ball”, with none of the five teams ready for Waterproof Wednesday.
It’s not the start to The Block‘s biggest Bathroom Week that the teams had in mind. Time will tell if they can finish their rooms.
In Pictures
Scotty’s house renovation so far
Sneak peek at the first three rooms.
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The Block airs Sunday at 7.00pm and Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm on Nine. Catch up on all thelatest episodes on 9Now.
Hannah Gadsby’s memoir, Ten Steps to Nanette, opens at the scene of a fancy Hollywood garden party at the home of actress Eva Longoria.
Celebrities are queuing to talk to Gadsby, whose Netflix comedy special, Nanette, had just sucker punched the world.
But the world-famous comedian extracts herself from a conversation with celebrated singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe to examine the preternaturally green lawn underfoot.
It’s an immediate insight into Gadsby’s brain, where thoughts and ideas bubble over — often clashing abruptly with the real world.
“My world is so much different than it was five years ago. I cannot explain how different it is,” she tells ABC RN’s Big Weekend of Books.
She’s referring not only to the global success of Nanette and its follow-up show, Douglas, but also to her 2017 diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and ADHD.
“It was an eye-opening thing, to start to understand that you think differently,” Gadsby says.
‘Begin at not normal’
Ten Steps to Nanette details Gadsby’s quest to understand her own biology, beginning in her conservative and isolated hometown in north-west Tasmania.
Her memories from childhood and her teen years have jagged edges, often tinged with self-loathing and confusion over her sexuality and neurodiversity.
“Back then, I wasn’t aware that women could have autism — it’s not part of the popular conversation,” she says.
After decades of mental health struggles, the diagnosis came as “a revelation.”
“Once you get the diagnosis, particularly if you’re diagnosed later in life, it comes as no surprise,” Gadsby says.
“It’s given me more solid ground to stand on.
“Before my diagnosis, I was just trying to make sense of myself in front of an audience, and now I can just sit back and relax and think, ‘Well, I’m atypical, so that’s where I begin.’
“It’s freed me up in a lot of ways. I’m not trying to twist myself to feel normal, I’m just standing straight and going, ‘Well, we can begin at not normal and move off from there.'”
Gadsby recounts how she was told she was “too fat” and “too female” to be autistic.(Supplied)
A large part of the memoir is dedicated to explaining how Gadsby’s autism functions: how the color blue (which she wears exclusively) calms her frazzled synapses; how the clink of a teacup hitting a saucer causes her tangible pleasure; how art history helps her make sense of a bewildering world.
“Of course, everyone on the spectrum has a different experience, but from what I understand, talking to a lot of people from my community, it’s like we think about ourselves inside our own body before how other people perceive us,” she tells ABC RN.
“Often that leads to bullying at school, but as you get older, I think it becomes slightly more freeing, as you understand yourself and the contortions you don’t want to fold yourself into anymore.”
She also writes, with painful clarity, about the challenges of negotiating and communicating as an autistic person in a sometimes hostile world.
“We move through a world where every space is demanding every inch of our attention,” she says.
“We don’t think about the aesthetic of things in terms of our own safety; we tend to think of that as icing on the cake, as opposed to just being a nurturing environment important to our mental health.
“I honestly think that if people on the spectrum designed our physical spaces, there’d be a lot less rage.”
Crafting a cultural reset
For Gadsby, crafting Nanette was a process of working with her autism and ADHD to present her trauma as a social and political statement.
In the last part of the book, she describes the various cues and fail-safes she invented to tip-toe around meltdowns and shut-downs triggered by the material she was exploring.
It’s this courage and vulnerability that shot her to superstardom after Nanette aired.
“The work I do on stage is pretty much [me] just learning on the go, and then I almost do a report and go, ‘This is what I’m learning at the moment’ — that’s certainly what Nanette was,” she says.
“That’s the spirit in which I approach new work, just trying to keep living my life as best I can, and then reporting on the lessons learned or unlearned.”
In Ten Steps to Nanette, Gadsby describes how she learned to listen to her body both on and off-stage, so she could safely revisit traumatic events in her past.(Supplied: Netflix/Ben King)
This can be tough for her family, some of whom learned of her past abuse for the first time during a live show.
“From the moment I started doing comedy, I was mining my personal life, particularly growing up,” Gadsby says.
“[My family has] grown up with me, from the smaller stakes, in front of 10 people at the Adelaide fringe, to Sydney Opera House, beaming around the globe.
“It’s a constant conversation we’re having; we’re certainly a lot closer. They’ve had to process some stuff, as I have.”
While her loved ones (including new wife Jenney Shamash) are supportive, the comedian is no stranger to rejection.
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“You just know that a certain section of the community is not going to enjoy your very existence, and there’s not much to be done about that,” she says.
“You just have to work on those who have an open mind and a caring heart.”
It’s a level of maturity and self-knowledge Gadsby says would awe her younger self.
“I always feel like if I went back in time, I’d scare the absolute shit out of myself. Me as a kid, I was not ready to know what I know now.”
A moment for diverse voices
In Ten Steps to Nanette, Gadsby explains how the intersection of her queerness and autism is a cornerstone of her identity.
After all, she grew up in a region infamous for its homophobic vitriol, in a state where homosexuality was illegal until 1997.
Douglas, like Nanette, offers a blistering critique of heteronormative patriarchy.(Supplied: Netflix/Ali Goldstein)
She’s pleased to see more diverse stories being told in art and the media, but is quick to acknowledge that her position is one of privilege.
“I think the more voices the merrier, and we’re really experiencing that, particularly with queer representation. We’re seeing a real moment for a diverse range of autistic voices, which is heartening.
“I don’t think that the comfort that I’m feeling is necessarily available to a lot of people on the spectrum. I think there [are] a lot of people who go undiagnosed, and certainly, the queer autistic community is really underserved.”
As for the future of diversity in comedy, Gadsby is a realist.
“I don’t think comedy is going to get there without the rest of the world getting there. And I don’t see that happening in my lifetime,” she says.
“I feel like it’s just something we have to actively strive for, without hope of ever seeing it.
“That’s kind of a sad place, but it’s also an empowering place because you can just put your head down and get on with it.”
Hannah Gadsby spoke to Mon Schafter for ABC RN’s Big Weekend of Books — an on-air writers’ festival featuring interviews with the writers you love. Listen back to all the conversations on the ABC listen app.
Rudy Giuliani didn’t appear in front of a grand jury in Georgia on Tuesday due to medical issues.
A doctor wrote a note saying Giuliani wasn’t cleared for air travel after heart surgery.
A state judge suggested he make a road trip instead of traveling by plane to testify in Fulton County’s election probe.
A Georgia state judge had an idea for how Rudy Giuliani could testify in Georgia after the Trump ally said he couldn’t make it due to a medical condition: turn it into a road trip.
Giuliani — who had been ordered to appear before a grand jury as part of Fulton County prosecutors’ investigation into 2020 election meddling — didn’t appear in court on Tuesday after a doctor’s note said he couldn’t travel by plane.
So Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney suggested Giuliani travel on “a train, on a bus or Uber or whatever” to arrive in court by August 17.
“I’m confident he can figure out a way — short of a Greyhound — to get him to Atlanta,” McBurney said during a Tuesday hearing with Giuliani’s lawyers and state prosecutors. “Do it in 3 legs. [Do] you know folks in DC? Spend the night there.”
The grand jury is investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to interfere in the 2020 general election results in the state.
Giuliani’s lawyer, William Thomas Jr., said the former New York mayor and Trump lawyer underwent surgery to implant heart stents at the beginning of July which is what is stopping him from getting on a plane.
His lawyers offered for Giuliani to call in via Zoom or meet with prosecutors in New York, but both options were turned down by Fulton Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade in court.
The back and forth over Giuliani’s appearance started when last week his lawyers contacted Georgia prosecutors saying a recent medical procedure would stop him from traveling to the hearing, according to court records.
McBurney excused him from the originally scheduled testimony, but called Tuesday’s hearing in its place.
Prosecutors submitted evidence they said showed that Giuliani was OK to travel to the hearing. They shared documents showing Giuliani purchased airline tickets to Rome, Italy, and Zurich, Switzerland for flights between July 22 and July 29 — after his medical procedure.
On Tuesday, his lawyers said “no such travel ever occurred,” and that he had been invited to a conference overseas so “presumably,” organizers or another party bought the tickets on his behalf.
He was scheduled to give a speech in Rome, but they canceled the appearance “based solely on his health.”
Prosecutors also included a screenshot of an August 1 tweet that shows Giuliani in New Hampshire. Thomas said he traveled to the state “by a private car in which he was the passenger.”
Giuliani was one of Trump’s allies who created so-called alternate slates of pro-Trump electors in an effort to change the results of the election in states the former president lost in 2020 — one of them being Georgia.
