Federal Judge Drops 57-Page Decision in Rudy Giuliani Election Workers Case
A federal judge on Wednesday sided with two Georgia election workers who sued Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for defamation in 2021 after he accused them of fraud.
U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama appointee, issued a default judgment against Giuliani holding him liable for defamation, civil conspiracy and emotional distress.
The 57-page judgment was entered after Giuliani “refused to comply with his discovery obligations,” failing to preserve electronic records requested by the attorneys for election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
“Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case,” Howell wrote.
“Just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks — even potential criminal liability — bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions,” Howell continued.
A trial will be held sometime between November and February to determine how much the election workers will be awarded in damages, Howell determined.
Giuliani will also be required to produce records related to revenue generated by his podcast, “Common Sense,” and previously requested financial documents by Sept. 20.
Giuliani pointed to the FBI’s seizure of his electronic devices as a reason for his failure to preserve and produce the required information, noting it would cost him over $320,000 to pay a vendor to access the archived documents, according to court documents.
Ted Goodman, an adviser to Giuliani, said the ruling “is a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment,” in a statement provided to The Associated Press.
“This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI,” Goodman said.
Giuliani conceded the claims he made about Freeman and Moss were false in a July court filing, though he noted that does not impact his argument that the statements are “constitutionally protected.”
Giuliani is also one of 19 co-defendants indicted in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ case against Donald Trump over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
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