U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled on Friday that Rudy Giuliani was in contempt of court for continuing to spread false accusations about two former Georgia election workers.
Giuliani, the former personal attorney to President Donald Trump and ex-mayor of New York City, has been embroiled in legal and financial struggles in recent years. He has also faced allegations of attempting to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat to President Joe Biden.
In 2023, Giuliani was found liable for defaming Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, two Georgia election workers whom he falsely accused of tampering with ballots during the 2020 election. He was ordered to pay them $148 million in damages.
Despite these findings, Giuliani has denied all criminal charges and maintained his innocence in the defamation case. He criticized the damages as "absurd" and appealed the ruling, but was unsuccessful.
In November 2024, Freeman and Moss' attorneys filed a motion asking Judge Howell to hold Giuliani in contempt for violating court orders by repeating false claims about them on his online show, *America's Mayor Live*. Giuliani contended that his comments about "alleged ballot counting irregularities" were brief and did not mention the women by name, stating that out of the many hours of his show, he had only referenced the location where Freeman and Moss worked.
His legal team argued that Giuliani believed his remarks did not violate the judgment and that he should not face contempt sanctions.
In a separate matter on Monday, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman found Giuliani in contempt for failing to properly respond to information requests related to assets that should be used to fulfill the $148 million judgment.
Giuliani's spokesperson, Ted Goodman, told *Newsweek* in an email that the public should understand that Giuliani had not been given a fair opportunity to defend himself in the defamation case. He claimed that biased media coverage and efforts to silence Giuliani were at play, and he characterized the contempt ruling as an attack on Giuliani's constitutional rights.
Attorneys for Freeman and Moss, in a court filing from November 2024, argued that Giuliani had started spreading lies about the women in December 2020 and continued to do so despite being repeatedly informed that his claims were unfounded and harmful.
Ahead of Friday’s hearing, Giuliani expressed his frustration on X (formerly Twitter), calling Howell "bloodthirsty" and denouncing the hearing as a "hypocritical waste of time." He accused both Howell and Liman of bias against him and claimed Howell had prewritten her decision. He also suggested that Liman had made up his mind before his testimony concluded.
Looking ahead, Judge Howell ordered Giuliani to review materials from the defamation case, including trial testimony. She warned that if he failed to certify compliance within 10 days, he would face a $200 daily fine. Howell also cautioned that further violations could result in imprisonment.
Comments
Post a Comment