Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. The trial will determine how much Rudy Giuliani will have to pay two Georgia election workers who he falsely accused of fraud while pushing President Donald Trump’s baseless claims after he lost the 2020 election. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A trial to determine exactly how much Rudy Giuliani must pay to two former Georgia election workers after defaming them and falsely accusing them of fraud will continue Wednesday.
It marks the third day of civil trial proceedings at the E. Barrett Prettyman courthouse in Washington, D.C., after a jury was quickly seated earlier this week. Presiding U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell already found Giuliani liable of defaming Fulton County election workers Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman earlier this year, so now all that is left to determine is how much the former New York mayor must pay to the women.
They are seeking a significant sum to compensate them for the reputational destruction they say Giuliani foisted on them in 2020 as he falsely and publicly claimed they were manipulating ballots in favor of now-President Joe Biden while working at the State Farm Arena in Georgia that November. Freeman and Moss seek damages of up to $47 million.
In dramatic fashion, an attorney for Giuliani equated the potential award during proceedings Tuesday as the “civil equivalent of the death penalty,” according to The Associated Press.
But the penalties that Giuliani has imposed on her and her mother with his defamatory lies, Moss testified Tuesday, have been severe and life-altering. While the 2020 election was some three years ago, the impact of Giuliani’s false claims continues to reverberate. The threats still come, as well as the racist messages and the insistence that she committed fraud
And adding insult to injury, Moss told the court on Tuesday, is that Giuliani has not stopped attacking her or her reputation — even now.
“I personally cannot repair my reputation at the moment because your client is still lying on me and ruining my reputation further,” she told Joseph Sibley, Giuliani’s attorney.
Her remark was spurred by one comment Giuliani made to reporters as he exited the courthouse on the first day of proceedings on Monday.
“Everything I said about them is true,” Giuliani said of Freeman and Moss.
Then, according to CNN, the former mayor doubled down when asked if he regretted making the defamatory remarks against the women.
“Of course I don’t regret it,” he said. “I told the truth. They were engaged in changing votes.”
That claim is false, and when a reporter pointed out to the former New York mayor — who was once also a federal prosecutor himself — that there is no proof of fraud, Giuliani retorted “Oh, you’re damn right there is. Stay tuned.”
Giuliani, however, has already admitted that his commentary about Freeman and Moss rigging the election or stealing votes was false in pretrial filings, and his brazen remarks outside of the courthouse came in stark contrast to what his lawyer has said of the women when appearing before Howell.
Forbes reported on Monday that Sibley called Moss and Freeman “good people” harmed by Giuliani’s statements. But by Tuesday, after Giuliani spoke to the press, the judge wasted little time admonishing him and warned that his statements about Freeman and Moss “could support another defamation” claim.
Sibley reportedly told Howell that he couldn’t control Giuliani outside of the courthouse and appeared to ask for mercy.
“This has taken a bit of a toll on him,” Sibley said. “He’s almost 80 years old.”
When Moss took the stand Tuesday, she spoke of the toll Giuliani has exacted on her life. Between sobs, she explained how she has feared for her life and has been unable to go out socially. She experienced a barrage of death threats and so did her mother. She lost her longtime job as an election worker, she was embarrassed and humiliated, she said.
One racist, threatening message warned her, a Black woman, that she should “be glad its 2020 and not 1920.”
“Everyone knows exactly what a Black woman would be doing in 1920,” Moss said, according to Politico.
Freeman, who was forced to flee her longtime home due to the flood of threats and harassment she received in 2020, is also expected to testify.
Giuliani is expected to testify, too.
The trial will likely conclude by Friday.
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