Election worker suing Rudy Giuliani testifies in defamation trial against him
Giuliani said Monday that he did not regret his false claims of fraud against former election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, alleging he “told the truth” about them.
A former Georgia election worker testified Tuesday in a trial to determine how much Rudy Giuliani will have to pay her and her mother after he was found liable for defaming them with baseless claims that they committed fraud in the 2020 election.
Wandrea “Shaye” Moss took the stand as the fourth plaintiffs' witness in the case, detailing the negative toll the false allegations have taken on her day-to-day life. She and her mother, Ruby Freeman, sued Giuliani over the bogus claims, which they say turned their lives upside down.
“I now am very anxious," Moss testified. "I have these non-stop anxious sweats. I have a lot of dark moments. I no longer go out. I will not be caught out anywhere alone, ever.”
“I look totally different, I gained like 70 pounds. I stress eat, I cry a lot,” she added. “I’m just this whole new stressed out person.”
Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, former federal prosecutor and Donald Trump ally, was found by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell earlier this year to have defamed the two women, including by falsely claiming they were handing around what he alleged were USB drives “like they were vials of heroin or cocaine” while the vote count was being taken. In reality, they were exchanging a ginger mint.
In August, the judge found Giuliani “civilly liable on plaintiffs’ defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage claims” because of his “willful discovery misconduct” and his purposeful “shirking of his discovery obligations.”
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Before the jury entered the courtroom on Tuesday the US district judge, Beryl Howell, asked Joseph Sibley, Giuliani’s attorney, whether the former New York City mayor was just “playing for the cameras” when he made the comments outside of the Washington DC courthouse on Monday evening. Giuliani has already legally conceded in the past that he defamed Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Black election workers, and Howell has found him liable for defamation.
“I’m not sure. He’s 80 years old. It’s taken a toll on him,” Sibley said. Howell then proceeded to press Sibley on whether he had concerns Giuliani had the mental capacity to follow instructions in the trial. “The answer of course is yes, I believe he can follow instructions,” Sibley said. “There are health concerns with Mr Giuliani that make sitting through a multi-day trial, the stress of it.”
Freeman and Moss have lived in a “perpetual nightmare” since Giuliani falsely accused them, by name, of trying to steal the election in 2020, their lawyers said in opening statements on Monday. They are expected to testify about vicious threats, harassment and emotional distress they have suffered because of his lies. They are seeking up to $43m in damages from the former mayor and Donald Trump ally.
Giuliani has already been found liable for defamation per se, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy. But in a brief statement to reporters after court on Monday evening, he suggested he planned to prove everything he had said about them was true during the trial.
“When I testify, you’ll get the whole story and it will be definitively clear what I said was true and that whatever happened to them, which was unfortunate if other people overreacted, but everything I said about them is true,” he said. Asked if he regretted what he said, Giuliani said: “Of course I don’t regret it, I told the truth.”
The claims have been repeatedly debunked and Freeman and Moss have been formally cleared of any wrongdoing.
Sibley, Giuliani’s lawyer, said in court on Monday that the damages the plaintiffs were seeking would amount to a civil “death penalty” on the former New York City mayor. “If you award them what they are asking for, it will be the end of Mr Giuliani,” he said.
It is not immediately clear who will take the stand on Tuesday but Freeman, Moss and Giuliani are all due to testify this week.
The first witness to testify on Monday was Regina Scott, a former Chicago police department officer who now works as a security consultant. She was hired by Freeman and Moss to analyze online threats against them and testified about the enormous volume they have seen since 2020. “The type of violent and racist and graphic material, that’s on a level we don’t see at all in our work,” she said on Monday.
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Giuliani has already been found liable for defamation per se, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy. But in a brief statement to reporters after court on Monday evening, he suggested he planned to prove everything he had said about them was true during the trial.
“When I testify, you’ll get the whole story and it will be definitively clear what I said was true and that whatever happened to them, which was unfortunate if other people overreacted, but everything I said about them is true,” he said. Asked if he regretted what he said, Giuliani said: “Of course I don’t regret it, I told the truth.”
The claims have been repeatedly debunked and Freeman and Moss have been formally cleared of any wrongdoing.
material, that’s on a level we don’t see at all in our work,” she said on Monday.
IANAL, but he has already been found liable for libel, hasn't he? This phase of the trial is to determine how much money he will owe the two women, right?
Will the judge allow him to try to re-litigate the veracity of his statements? He has been found "guilty" (I know this is a civil case) and there should only be testimony about how much he has to pay.
"I, personally, cannot repair my reputation at the moment because your client is still lying on me and ruining my reputation. Like, how could you work in law if everyone is saying you're a horrible lawyer?"
You're right. He's already been found civilly liable for defamation. This trial will be to determine compensatory and punitive damage amounts. As to his comments to the press today, I'm not sure if this is evidence of being able to increase what they're asking for or if would be a new case. It's exactly what Trump did in the Carroll case (where they found him guilty of sexual assault and defamation award of $5 million. I believe a new case was filed about the new stuff he spewed after that adjudication.
His lawyer talking about how he's 80 and it's stressful sitting through this trial. Give. Me. A. Break.
Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. - Mark Twain
“Sibley, Giuliani’s lawyer, said in court on Monday that the damages the plaintiffs were seeking would amount to a civil “death penalty” on the former New York City mayor. “If you award them what they are asking for, it will be the end of Mr Giuliani,” he said.”
NewMexGirl wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2023 6:51 pm
“Sibley, Giuliani’s lawyer, said in court on Monday that the damages the plaintiffs were seeking would amount to a civil “death penalty” on the former New York City mayor. “If you award them what they are asking for, it will be the end of Mr Giuliani,” he said.”
MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2023 8:16 pm
Giuliani ruined these women’s lives! I’m fine with him ending up in the poorhouse. Or on the street.
A cardboard box at the underpass of Hwy 46 is my vote....
"He sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to see, He tries to tell me what I put inside of me
He's got the answers to ease my curiosity, He dreamed a god up and called it Christianity"
You think Rudes doesn’t have a fair chunk of change squirreled away in foreign accounts? I would be surprised if he does not. But he might have a hell of a time trying to get access….
I can’t remember whether or how Judge Howell ruled on the discovery violation specifically as it relates to damages. Is she going to draw negative inferences with respect to withheld discovery - like, for example, is she going to presume that Rudy made a ton of money on these lies if he didn’t cough up his financials?
"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
Philly Boondoggle
