Washington Rudy Giuliani’s second contempt of court hearing this week in the defamation action against him involving former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Shaye Moss was hearing arguments on Friday before a federal judge.
Michael Gottlieb, the women’s lawyer, told U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, “We don’t want to be here today.” According to him, the plaintiffs’ ultimate priority is for Mr. Giuliani to cease disparaging them.
Despite a court-ordered agreement that he would no longer slander the ladies, Giuliani seemed to continue to allege that they committed fraud during the 2020 election in remarks on his streaming show, which prompted the contempt complaint.
Howell advised Giuliani to be aware of the impact of his words and his position.
The judge declared, “You are the most well-known individual in this courtroom at the moment, and you have a larger audience and a larger public following than anyone else in this courtroom.”
In a post on X, Giuliani attacked the judge before the court even began, claiming that because it was starting late, she was “making us wait all day for her inevitable highly prejudiced, usual, biased decision.”
Minutes before the hearing started, Giuliani wrote, “The hearing is a hypocritical waste of time and a disgusting example of Biden lawfare.”
Giuliani has stated that his remarks on his show were not defamatory and that discussing the case and my defense is within my First Amendment rights.
In a court filing, his lawyer contended that the comments were “vague” as he failed to name the women.
When Giuliani attempted to assist then-President Trump in overturning the 2020 election results, Freeman and Moss sued him for his allegations against them. After Giuliani disregarded court requests to turn up evidence, Howell ruled him responsible in 2023 for defaming Freeman and Moss.
The judge lowered the jury’s $148 million damages award to $146 million. Giuliani is contesting the ruling.
A federal judge in New York held Giuliani in contempt of court earlier this week for not complying with instructions to provide Freeman and Moss with information regarding his assets.
up the course of two days, Giuliani gave testimony regarding the reasons behind his failure to turn up assets and court-ordered discovery evidence related to the $146 million judgment.
A New York Yankees jersey signed by Hall of Fame outfielder Joe DiMaggio was one valuable item he neglected to turn over, but Giuliani claimed last week that it was “missing.”
He remarked, “I am personally conducting my own investigation about this, and I don’t know where it is, and it is difficult to recreate who took it.”