Giuliani could pay millions as Ga. election worker defamation trial starts

U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell has already found Giuliani liable for more than a dozen defamatory statements against Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, who are mother and daughter, leaving a jury of eight only to decide how much he should pay in damages for violent threats and harassment the pair received. Howell previously ordered Giuliani to pay the women $230,000 in legal fees and sanctions for failing to turn over relevant information. She said those failures, combined with Giuliani’s own admissions, compelled her to rule without a trial that he defamed both women, intentionally inflicted emotional distress on them as part of a civil conspiracy, and owes punitive damages.

At a recent pretrial hearing where Giuliani failed to show, Howell lashed defense attorney Joseph D. Sibley IV for the lapse. She warned she would not allow the defense to veer into “weirdness-land” by mounting claims she already rejected after Giuliani stonewalled the plaintiffs and agreed not to contest that he made false and defamatory claims about them.

Howell has suggested that Giuliani was trying to avoid disclosing information that could hurt him in other civil and criminal cases, and legal experts said the bill may be coming due for the former Manhattan U.S. attorney and host of his “America’s Mayor Live” YouTube show.

“I don’t want to overcomplicate this. Words have consequences, including for Mr. Giuliani,” said legal analyst Chuck Rosenberg, a former top FBI and Justice Department official. “We are all responsible for what we say and do. Mr. Giuliani doesn’t get a pass.”

The prospect of a humbling or debilitating financial judgment is only the latest legal risk for Giuliani. He faces state prosecution in Georgia, in part for his dissemination of the false claims about Freeman and Moss. He’s also considered an unindicted co-conspirator in Trump’s indictment on federal charges for obstruction of the 2020 election. He and one of his lawyers are being sued by Hunter Biden for allegedly mishandling the presidential son’s laptop, and that lawyer is accusing Giuliani of not paying legal bills. Giuliani also faces suit from a former employee accusing him of wage theft and sexual harassment.

Giuliani has pleaded not guilty in the Georgia criminal cases, and denied all claims of wrongdoing in all cases.

In a statement, Giuliani adviser Ted Goodman said, “The Rudy Giuliani you see today is the same man who took down the Mafia, cleaned up New York City and comforted the nation following September 11th.”

Goodman added, “In the fullness of time, this will be looked at as a dark chapter in our nation’s history, as those in power attempt to destroy their partisan political opposition in ways that cause great, irreparable harm to the U.S. justice system … While it may be President Trump, Mayor Giuliani, and others you disagree with politically today, it could be you and the people who share your beliefs, tomorrow.”

Giuliani on Monday will sit at the defense table and share a courtroom feet away from Freeman and Moss, who say they received death threats and were forced into hiding after Giuliani repeatedly claimed in the weeks after the 2020 election that misleading security video footage showed them bringing in “suitcases” full of fake votes for Joe Biden. Those claims were quickly debunked by election officials in Georgia, who explained that the so-called suitcases were regular ballot boxes and that nothing untoward had occurred at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

Giuliani highlighted the Georgia video to other Trump advisers, according to court filings, and Trump went on to reference it in meetings with top Justice Department officials and in a phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state. During the call. the president asked for the state official to “find 11,780 votes.”

Freeman and Moss are expected to testify in the case, and the defense has signaled Giuliani could take the witness stand in his defense, although Howell warned Sibley about his client’s risk of self incrimination.

In court filings, attorneys for the Georgia workers hint they might put on new evidence about the scope of the alleged conspiracy between Giuliani, Trump, and participants with his legal and campaign teams. According to state prosecutors in Georgia, three Trump supporters tried to pressure Freeman into going along with the false claims, including by showing up at her home.

Attorney Michael J. Gottlieb said plaintiffs plan to show jurors relevant video excerpts of depositions taken under oath from Trump attorneys such as Jenna Ellis and Ray S. Smith III, even though the pair invoked the Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions hundreds of times. Plaintiffs said that other potential video evidence could include depositions taken from Giuliani adviser Bernard Kerik and lawyer Christina Bobb, who after the 2020 election volunteered for Trump’s legal team and reported for conservative cable news channel One America News.

“I lost my name, I’ve lost my reputation,” Freeman testified to the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attacks. “I’ve lost my sense of security — all because a group of people, starting with Number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me and my daughter, Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen.”

In Giuliani’s defense, Sibley has argued that the election workers haven’t shown that his client’s statements caused all that harm, and that it would be unfair if “damaging statements made by other people” were attributed to him.

“Our argument is that the causal relationship to damages has to be linked” to the lawsuit’s specific allegations, Sibley said, adding in court papers that Giuliani reserved the right to ask Howell to revisit her orders and to appeal the case.

One America News was a co-defendant in the case, but entered a settlement with Moss and Shaye and was dismissed earlier from the lawsuit. OAN then reported that state officials concluded “there was no widespread voter fraud by elections workers who counted ballots at the State Farm Arena,” indicating that Freeman and Moss “did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct.”

Once known as “America’s Mayor” for his leadership of New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Giuliani has turned to Trump for financial assistance. The former president held a $100,000-per-person fundraiser for Giuliani in September, but Trump advisers say the pair do not speak as often as they once did.