Rudy Giuliani Defames Election Workers Who Won $148 Million Defamation Suit Against Him: 'Wasn't a Sufficient Incentive to Stop the Defamation?'

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was held in contempt of court by a federal judge on Jan. 10 for evading an agreement not to make new false claims about two Georgia election workers. In 2023, he was ordered to pay the workers $148 million for falsely accusing them of tampering with the 2020 presidential election.

In fact, it was the second time this week that Giuliani was held in contempt of court. On Jan. 6, he got in more legal troubles for failing to turn over personal property and information to the two election workers. Judge Lewis Liman said he "has not turned over a single dollar" in order to satisfy the $148 million judgement against him.

At the heart of the new issue are two remarks made by Giuliani on Nov. 12 and 14 on his web show, where he claimed that prosecutors "never let me show the tapes that show them quadruple counting the... ballots," adding that his tapes showed them "passing these little...hard drives that we maintain were used to fix the machines."

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell determined that Giuliani violated the order he agreed to in at least six ways, calling his accusations of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss—the two Georgia election workers—engaging in election crimes the "worst kind of defamation."

Howell ordered Giuliani to file a declaration acknowledging that he reviewed testimony and evidence from the defamation trial and that no testimony or government report contradicted the two election workers.

The federal judge also issued a $200 fine for each day the former New York City mayor does not comply with the deadline to submit the declaration. In case he engages in further violations, Howell said the court would have to consider imprisonment or confinement.

While reading her verdict, Howell asked Giuliani "$148 million wasn't a sufficient incentive to stop the defamation?"

During the hearing, Giuliani's representative Ted Goodman said his client "never had the opportunity to defend himself on the facts in the defamation case," and added that the contempt ruling was designed to prevent Giuliani from "exercising his constitutional rights."

The former mayor initially sought to attend the hearing virtually, arguing that health problems and security concerns would make traveling to Washington D.C. a challenge.

"This is yet another glaring example where the process is the punishment," Goodman said.

As part of the 2023 defamation suit, Giuliani has been forced to turn over properties and other items including dozens of watches and a Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, but attorneys representing Freeman and Moss say he is stalling their efforts to collect his remaining nonexempt assets.

Giuliani explained the delays are a result of being bogged down with other pending legal battles and the collapse of his relationship with his former attorneys, who he claims they refused to cooperate in providing electronic discovery of the election workers.

Originally published on Latin Times