Rudy Giuliani draws rebuke for a courtroom outburst accusing judge in
assets case of being unfair
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[November 27, 2024]
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — In an angry outburst in a New York courtroom, Rudy
Giuliani accused a judge Tuesday of making wrong assumptions about him
as he tries to comply with an order requiring him to turn over most of
his assets to two election poll workers who won a libel case against
him.
U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman responded by saying he’s not going to
let the former New York City mayor and onetime presidential candidate
blurt things out anymore in court unless he’s a sworn witness.
The interruption to an otherwise routine pretrial hearing in Manhattan
came as the judge questioned Giuliani's lawyer about why Giuliani has
not yet provided the title to a car he has relinquished in his effort to
satisfy a $148 million defamation judgment won by two former Georgia
election workers.
“Your client was the U.S. attorney for this district,” the judge said,
referring to Giuliani's years in the 1980s as the head of the federal
prosecutor's office in the Southern District of New York, as he
suggested it was hard to believe that Giuliani was incapable of getting
a duplicate title to the car.
Giuliani leaned forward and began speaking into a microphone, telling
the judge he had applied for a duplicate copy of the car's title but
that it had not yet arrived.
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“The implication I’ve been not diligent about it is totally incorrect,”
Giuliani said in a scolding tone. “The implication you make is against
me and every implication against me is wrong.”
Giuliani went on: "I’m not impoverished. Everything I have is tied up. I
don’t have a car. I don’t have a credit card. I don’t have cash. I can’t
get to bank accounts that truly would be mine because they have put ...
stop orders on, for example, my Social Security account, which they have
no right to do.”
Liman responded by warning defense lawyers that the next time Giuliani
interrupts a hearing, “he's not going to be permitted to speak and the
court will take action.”
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Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters as he leaves the federal
courthouse in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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The judge said Giuliani could either choose to represent himself or
let lawyers do so, but “you can't have hybrid representation.”
If Giuliani wants to speak in court again, he can be put on the
witness stand and be sworn as a witness, Liman added.
The exchange came at a hearing in which the judge refused to delay a
Jan. 16 trial over the disposition of Giuliani’s Florida residence
and World Series rings.
Those are two sets of assets that Giuliani is trying to shield from
confiscation as part of Liman's order to turn over many prized
possessions to the poll workers.
Earlier in the proceeding, defense attorney Joseph M. Cammarata
asked Liman to delay the trial, which will be heard without a jury,
for a month because of Giuliani's “involvement" in inauguration
planning for President-elect Donald Trump.
“My client regularly consults and deals directly with
President-elect Trump on issues that are taking place as the
incoming administration is afoot as well as (the) inauguration,"
Cammarata said. "My client wants to exercise his political right to
be there.”
The judge turned down the request, saying Giuliani's “social
calendar” was not a reason to postpone the trial.
Giuliani, who once served as Trump's personal attorney, was found
liable last year for defaming two Georgia poll workers by falsely
accusing them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential
election. The women said they faced death threats after Giuliani
falsely claimed they sneaked in ballots in suitcases, counted
ballots multiple times and tampered with voting machines.
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