Giuliani ordered to pay $148 million to Georgia election workers in
defamation trial
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[December 16, 2023]
By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rudy Giuliani must pay more than $148 million in
damages to two former Georgia election workers he defamed through false
accusations that they helped rig the 2020 election against Donald Trump,
a jury decided on Friday.
The jury in federal court in Washington found that Giuliani owes the
workers, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, roughly $73
million to compensate them for the reputational and emotional harm they
suffered and $75 million to punish the former Trump lawyer and one-time
New York mayor for his conduct.
"Today's a good day. A jury stood witness to what Rudy Giuliani did to
me and my daughter and held him accountable," Freeman told reporters
outside the courthouse, adding "others must be held accountable, too."
A federal judge determined before the trial that Giuliani was liable for
defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil
conspiracy. The only question before the jury was how much in damages to
impose on Giuliani, who helped Republican former President Trump advance
his false claims of a stolen 2020 election. The panel deliberated for
more than 10 hours before coming to a decision.
Giuliani said he would appeal.
"The absurdity of the number merely underscores the absurdity of the
entire proceeding," he told reporters outside the courthouse.
The verdict was reached after an emotional three days of testimony in
which Moss and Freeman, who are Black, recounted a deluge of racist and
sexist messages, including threats of lynching, they received after
Trump and his allies spread false claims that they were engaged in voter
fraud.
"Mr. Giuliani thought he could get away with making Ruby and Shaye the
face of election fraud because he thought they were ordinary and
expendable," the workers' lawyer Michael Gottlieb said during his
closing argument. "He has no right to offer defenseless civil servants
up to a virtual mob in order to overturn an election."
Joseph Sibley, a lawyer for Giuliani, acknowledged that his client had
caused harm, but said the penalty the plaintiffs sought - at least $48
million - would be "catastrophic" for his client. He told the jury
Giuliani was a "good man," referencing his role as mayor of New York
following the Sept. 11, 2001, Twin Towers attack.
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Georgia election worker Shaye Moss speaks during a press conference
after a jury ordered Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to pay her
and her mother, Ruby Freeman, $148 million in damages outside the
U.S. District Courthouse in Washington, U.S., December 15, 2023.
REUTERS/Bonnie Cash
"Rudy Giuliani shouldn't be defined by what's happened in recent
times," Sibley said during his closing argument.
Giuliani made repeated false claims that a surveillance video showed
Moss and Freeman concealing and counting suitcases filled with
illegal ballots at a basketball arena in Atlanta that was used to
process votes during the 2020 election.
The former mayor, who had said he would testify during the trial,
ultimately opted not to take the witness stand.
After the trial, he said his comments had "no connections at all" to
the threats the two women received.
Trump also singled out Freeman by name in a highly publicized
January 2021 phone call during which he pressured Georgia's top
election officer, Brad Raffensperger, to "find" votes to overturn
his narrow defeat in the state.
A state investigation found that the women were legally and properly
processing ballots. Lawyers for the two women alleged that the
claims were part of a conspiracy that involved Trump, his legal team
and a right-wing media outlet to help Trump sow doubt about the
election and reverse his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
Giuliani has faced a series of civil and criminal woes – and
mounting legal fees -- since helping to spearhead Trump's efforts to
overturn the election.
Giuliani has been criminally charged in the Georgia racketeering
case against Trump and several of his allies, in part for targeting
Moss and Freeman. He has pleaded not guilty.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Additional reporting by Katharine
Jackson and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Scott Malone, Andy Sullivan,
Mark Porter and Rosalba O'Brien)
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