A jury awarded $148 million in damages on Friday to two former Georgia election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation over lies he spread about them in 2020 that upended their lives with racist threats and harassment.
Quick Read
- Substantial Damages Awarded: A jury awarded $148 million in damages to Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and Ruby Freeman, two former Georgia election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation.
- Background of the Case: The lawsuit was filed over false claims made by Giuliani regarding the 2020 presidential election, which resulted in racist threats and harassment towards Moss and Freeman.
- Details of the Verdict: The jury awarded $75 million in punitive damages and approximately $36 million each in other damages to Moss and Freeman.
- Giuliani’s Reaction and Liability: Giuliani, found liable in the case, did not show emotion as the verdict was read. He had previously admitted in court documents to falsely accusing the women of ballot fraud.
- Continued Allegations by Giuliani: Despite his admission of falsehood, Giuliani continued to make baseless allegations about Moss and Freeman outside the courthouse during the trial.
- Defense Strategy: Giuliani’s defense acknowledged his mistake but argued that he was not solely responsible for the women’s suffering. They suggested that a right-wing website, which published surveillance footage of the women counting ballots, was also to blame.
- Financial and Legal Challenges for Giuliani: The judgment adds to Giuliani’s financial and legal difficulties, including other costly lawsuits and investigations related to his representation of former President Donald Trump.
- Impact on Giuliani’s Finances: Giuliani’s lawyer suggested that the defamation case could financially ruin the former New York City mayor.
- Criminal Charges in Georgia: Giuliani also faces criminal charges in Georgia related to efforts to subvert the 2020 election results. He has pleaded not guilty, calling the case politically motivated.
- Testimonies and Evidence Presented: Jurors heard recordings of Giuliani’s false accusations and listened to the graphic and racist threats received by Moss and Freeman. Trump also repeated these conspiracy theories.
- Emotional Impact on Plaintiffs: Both Moss and Freeman testified about the fear and emotional distress they experienced, including receiving death threats and needing to alter their lifestyles significantly.
- Defense’s Plea to Jurors: Giuliani’s defense attorney urged jurors to compensate the women fairly but reminded them of Giuliani’s stature as a “great man.”
- Plaintiffs’ Lawyers’ Arguments: The plaintiffs’ lawyers emphasized Giuliani’s continuous spread of the false conspiracy theory and his refusal to apologize or change his stance.
- Previous Court Orders: The judge in the case had already ordered Giuliani and his business entities to pay tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees, holding him liable for not complying with legal obligations and portraying himself as the victim.
The Associated Press has the story:
Jury awards $148M in damages to Georgia election workers over Rudy Giuliani’s 2020 vote lies
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP)
A jury awarded $148 million in damages on Friday to two former Georgia election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation over lies he spread about them in 2020 that upended their lives with racist threats and harassment.
The damages verdict follows emotional testimony from Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who tearfully described becoming the target of a false conspiracy theory pushed by Giuliani and other Republicans as they tried to keep then-President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.
There was an audible gasp in the courtroom when the jury foreperson read aloud the $75 million award in punitive damages for the women. Moss and Freeman were each awarded another roughly $36 million in other damages.
Giuliani didn’t appear to show any emotion as the verdict was read in Washington’s federal courthouse after about 10 hours of deliberations. Moss and Freeman hugged their attorneys after the jury left the courtroom and didn’t look at Giuliani as he left with his lawyer.
Giuliani had already been found liable in the case and previously conceded in court documents that he falsely accused the women of ballot fraud. Even so, the former New York City mayor continued to repeat his baseless allegations about the women in comments to reporters outside the Washington, D.C., courthouse this week.
“Facts matter. Truth is truth and you will be held accountable,” he said.
Giuliani’s lawyer acknowledged that his client was wrong but insisted that Giuliani was not fully responsible for the vitriol the women faced. The defense sought to largely pin the blame on a right-wing website that published the surveillance video of the two women counting ballots.
The judgment adds to growing financial and legal peril for Giuliani, who was among the loudest proponents of Trump’s false claims of election fraud that are now a key part of the criminal cases against the former president.
Giuliani had already been showing signs of financial strain as he defends himself against costly lawsuits and investigations stemming from his representation of Trump. His lawyer suggested that the defamation case could financially ruin the former mayor, saying “it would be the end of Mr. Giuliani.”
And Giuliani is still facing his biggest test yet: fighting criminal charges in the Georgia case accusing Trump and 18 others of working to subvert the results of the 2020 election, won by Democrat Joe Biden, in that state. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty and characterized the case as politically motivated.
Jurors in the defamation case heard recordings of Giuliani falsely accusing the election workers of sneaking in ballots in suitcases, counting ballots multiple times and tampering with voting machines. Trump also repeated the conspiracy theories through his social media accounts. Lawyers for Moss and Freeman, who are Black, also played for jurors audio recordings of the graphic and racist threats the women received.
The women’s lawyers asked for at least $24 million for each woman in defamation damages alone. They also sought compensation for their emotional harm and punitive damages.
On the witness stand, Moss and Freeman described fearing for their lives as hateful messages poured in. Moss told jurors she tried to change her appearance, seldom leaves her home and suffers from panic attacks. Her mother described strangers banging on her door and recounted fleeing her home after people came with bullhorns and the FBI told her she wasn’t safe.
“It’s so scary, anytime I go somewhere, if I have to use my name,” Freeman said, gasping through her tears to get her words out. “I miss my old neighborhood because I was me, I could introduce myself. Now I don’t have a name, really.”
Defense attorney Joseph Sibley told jurors they should compensate the women for what they are owed, but he urged them to “remember this is a great man.”
An attorney for Moss and Freeman, in his closing argument, highlighted how Giuliani has not stopped repeating the false conspiracy theory asserting the workers interfered in the November 2020 presidential election. Attorney Michael Gottlieb played a video of Giuliani outside the courthouse on Monday, in which Giuliani falsely claimed the women were “engaged in changing votes.”
“Mr. Giuliani has shown over and over again he will not take our client’s names out of his mouth,” Gottlieb said. “Facts will not stop him. He says he isn’t sorry and he’s telegraphing he will do this again. Believe him.”
The judge overseeing the election workers’ lawsuit had already ordered Giuliani and his business entities to pay tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees. In holding Giuliani liable, the judge ruled that the former mayor gave “only lip service” to complying with his legal obligations while trying to portray himself as the victim in the case.
