A federal judge issued a default judgment against former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday, ordering the former mayor to pay more than $130,000 in a civil case brought by two Georgia election workers who he alleges rigged the 2020 presidential election, according to court filings.
DC-based US District Judge Beryl Howell reprimanded Giuliani, 79, for failing to turn over complete electronic communications or financial records to attorneys for Peach State election worker Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shay” Moss as part of the discovery process in their defamation suit against him.
In the 57-page memo, Howell said the former federal prosecutor had “gives lip service” to a process he knew intimately from experience and instead “thwarted” plaintiffs’ attorneys at every step.
“Wearing the cloak of victimhood may play well on the public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this show only serves to subvert the normal process of discovery in outright defamation cases, with the simultaneous necessity of repeated courts. intervention,” he wrote.
A federal judge cleared former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday as part of a civil case brought by two Georgia election workers.AP
US District Judge Beryl Howell issued a default judgment against Giuliani, 79, for repeatedly failing to provide complete electronic communications or financial records. The Washington Post via Getty Images
The evidence sought included private emails and messages from Giuliani’s electronic devices, most of which were seized by the FBI in April 2021 before being returned in August 2022 — at which point, Giuliani claimed, they were “erased.”
However, Howell sided with plaintiffs’ attorneys in finding that Giuliani had done little to preserve his private communications, noting at least two devices were not seized by federal agents.
Financial records from the former mayor’s businesses — Giuliani Communications LLC and Giuliani Partners LLC — and his podcast “Common Sense” were also insufficiently produced, the judge said.
Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shay” Moss are suing Giuliani for defamation.Getty Images
Howell ordered Giuliani to pay $89,172.50 in fees with interest for withholding the information.
His business must also pay an associated fee of $43,684, with associated interest, if he fails to comply again.
The plaintiffs have until Sept. 8 to submit any additional costs for the discovery motion, and Giuliani has until Sept. 15 to file any objections to the judge’s order.
By September 20, both sides must submit three proposed trial dates between November 2023 and February 2024. Giuliani, by the same date, must pay all fees and provide his financial records to the court.
In a 57-page memo, Howell said the former mayor and federal prosecutor was “just paying lip service” to a process he knew intimately from experience.Getty Images
Howell said jurors for the case will be told that Giuliani’s failure to provide information should be interpreted as a deliberate attempt to hide his finances and deflate his net worth.
“This 57-page opinion on discovery — which is usually no more than two or three pages — is a prime example of the weaponization of the justice system, where the process is the punishment,” Giuliani political adviser Ted Goodman told The Post. “This decision should be reversed, because Mayor Giuliani was wrongfully accused of failing to preserve electronic evidence seized and held by the FBI.”
Freeman and Moss filed a defamation suit against the man once known as “America’s Mayor” in December 2021, alleging he falsely claimed they had committed election fraud by pointing to a heavily edited video of the supposed crime.
Freeman and Moss filed a defamation suit against the man once known as “America’s Mayor” in December 2021.AP
The couple is also suing One America News Network over similar allegations, as the video footage was also distributed by Trump allies in the right-wing media.
Giuliani said the mother-daughter duo had passed around USB drives “like bottles of heroin or cocaine” to commit vote fraud, but Moss later testified to a House select committee on Jan. 6 that he handed his mother ginger mints.
The Georgia State Board of Elections in June dismissed the allegations following an investigation, stating that the allegations of fraud were “baseless and found to have no merit.”
Giuliani’s political adviser Ted Goodman told The Post his boss was “wrongfully accused of not keeping electronic evidence seized and held by the FBI.”
Giuliani admitted next month in court to making “false” claims about the plaintiffs and did not dispute their claims.
“Defendant Giuliani, for purposes of this litigation only, does not dispute that … the actionable statements of fact are false,” the July 26 filing said.
However, he disputed that the statement was “defamatory, per se” and called it a “constitutionally protected statement or opinion.”
Giuliani was indicted in Georgia earlier this month along with former President Donald Trump and 17 co-defendants for their attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.AP
Giuliani was indicted on August 14 along with Trump and 17 others for their attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 Georgia election.
He faces 13 charges, including charges under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) — the federal version of which he relied on as a federal prosecutor — conspiracy, making false statements and soliciting public officials to violate their oath of office.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
