Giuliani Defamation Trial To Kick Off After Judge Finds Him Liable for Fomenting Threats Against Georgia Election Workers

The two Georgia election workers who faced harassment and threats as a result of Rudolph Giuliani’s conspiracy theories about voter fraud will see their day in court on Monday as a defamation case against the former mayor kicks off. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss — a mother-daughter duo who for years helped the elderly and disabled voters access the ballot box — are seeking damages for emotional distress and the harassment they faced. Ms. Moss, who worked as an election worker in Georgia for more than a decade, told the Select January 6 Committee in 2022 that she, her mother, and her grandmother faced violent threats from supporters of Mr. Trump in the wake of the 2020 election. Mr. Giuliani and the former president claimed, without evidence, that Ms. Moss and her mother had wheeled out boxes of ballots for President Biden. They had engaged in “surreptitious illegal activity,” Mr. Giuliani said publicly at the time. “It was just a lot of horrible things there,” Ms. Moss said, adding that there were “a lot of threats wishing death upon me, telling me I’ll be in jail with my mother and saying things like, ‘Be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920.’”A judge has already found that Mr. Giuliani did, in fact, defame the two election workers. The trial that will begin Monday will determine the exact dollar amount the former mayor will pay the two women. In July of this year, Mr. Giuliani admitted in a sworn statement that he had been “defamatory.”Ms. Freeman said she had stopped identifying herself when meeting strangers for fear of someone recognizing her or even physically attacking her. “I won’t even introduce myself by my name anymore,” Ms. Freeman said. “I get nervous when I bump into someone I know in the grocery store who says my name. I’m worried about who is listening. I get nervous when I have to give my name for food orders. I’m always concerned of who is around me. I’ve lost my name, and I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost my sense of security.”Her sense of safety, she said, had been shattered by Messrs. Giuliani and Trump. “There is nowhere I feel safe,” Ms. Freeman said. “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one.”Because of his admission that he had defamed the two women and his lack of compliance with court orders, Mr. Giuliani has been ordered to pay more than $230,000 in legal fees on behalf of Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman. At a pretrial December 5 hearing, Mr. Giuliani did not make an appearance. His lawyer claimed that it was an honest mistake and his client would appear for the Monday trial date. The defamation trial and the possibility of a huge settlement with the two former election workers could spell financial disaster for Mr. Giuliani, who is already deep in debt and is facing lawsuits from former attorneys after they defended him in the criminal trial and civil lawsuits he has faced since 2020. On Friday, ABC News reported that his former attorney, Bob Costello, is suing Mr. Giuliani for more than $1.4 million in unpaid legal fees.

Giuliani Defamation Trial To Kick Off After Judge Finds Him Liable for Fomenting Threats Against Georgia Election Workers

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