Rudy Giuliani says warrant illegal since agents already had data 'from the iCloud'

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The former New York mayor and attorney for Donald Trump said that FBI agents arrived at this house early Wednesday morning with a warrant for electronic devices. On Thursday evening, Giuliani appeared on Fox News Thursday to explain his side of the story.

Giuliani said that the federal agents took "seven or eight electronic items of mine," according to Mediaite. After they declined to take two or three hard drives, Giuliani says that he urged them to reconsider, claiming that they belonged to Hunter Biden.

Giuliani claimed that the warrant was "completely illegal," stating that the only way for law enforcement to get a search warrant is to "show that there is evidence that the person is going to destroy the evidence, or is going to run away with the evidence." Giuliani's interpretation of the use of search warrants and why they are issued does not appear consistent with New York or Federal law, as it pertains to digital media and devices.

Additionally, Giuliani claimed that the warrant wasn't necessary because the Department of Justice had already gathered data from Apple's cloud services.

"And they also got it from the iCloud," Giuliani told Fox News, gesturing up at the sky. "So there was no — there was no justification for that warrant. It is an illegal, unconstitutional warrant."

A lawyer for Giuliani on also said that federal agents had penetrated his iCloud account long before the search warrant was executed on Wednesday, The Daily Beast reported Thursday. It isn't clear what "penetrated" means as presented by Giuliani's lawyer, but Apple has an entire division that responds to search warrants served on the company.

Apple does not casually provide iCloud data to law enforcement agencies. It will hand over information stored in the cloud if served with a subpoena or warrant.

Among other data, iCloud accounts can store information such as photos, text messages, emails, app data, and App Store purchase history. It also isn't specifically clear what Giuliani was referring to, when he said that the Department of Justice had all his data from iCloud.

The Cupertino tech giant publishes a report twice a year detailing both government and private requests for user data. According to the latest report, data requests were down from the prior six-month period.