Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is taking another loss.
A federal judge has sided with two Black Georgia election workers from the 2020 presidential election in a defamation lawsuit after Donald Trump’s former attorney claimed he couldn’t contest that he made false and defamatory statements about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
Giuliani said cost has made it hard for him to keep up with his electronic records, making it difficult for him to respond to subpoenas for information from Moss and Freeman while the case moved forward.
“Perhaps he has made the calculation that his overall litigation risks are minimized by not complying with his discovery obligations in this case,” U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell during her Aug. 30 ruling. “Whatever the reason, obligations are case specific and withholding required discovery in this case has consequences.”
Howell suggested both Freeman and Moss could try to show that Giuliani’s false claims regarding the 2020 election were intended, which may help him in some way since that argument may come up during the damages trial.Both election workers are seeking unspecified damages, claiming they suffered emotional and physical harm as well as damage to their reputations after Giuliani singled them out for ballot tampering in Georgia after the 2020 presidential election.
In a statement, Freeman and Moss said things have been a “living nightmare.” They’ve received an unimaginable “wave of hatred and threats” due to the disgraced lawyer’s comments.
“Nothing can restore all we lost, but today’s ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along, that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong,” the women said, according to the Associated Press. “We were smeared for purely political reasons, and the people responsible can and should be held accountable.”
Giuliani is already dishing out close to $90,000 for Freeman and Moss’ attorneys’ fees in the case, and Howell said he may be hit with more fees. The women are seeking damages amounting to thousands, if not millions, of dollars.