Two election workers from Georgia are about to face a Washington jury that will decide how much money to give them. These workers were the victim of smear campaigns and death threats after Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump falsely accused them of voting machine fraud in the 2020 election.
The women, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, claim that Giuliani’s defamation against them set in motion years of threats, personal and professional repercussions, and mental health destruction; their attorneys are requesting that the eight-member panel grant each woman $24 million. In addition to the “punitive” reward meant to discourage similar behaviour in the future, Moss and Freeman are requesting an undisclosed sum for mental suffering.
Giuliani observed as Michael Gottlieb, an attorney for Moss and Freeman, slammed the former NYC mayor for utilising his prominent platform and alliance with Trump to redirect the 2020 election-related efforts towards discrediting the accusations of election fraud against Moss and Freeman.
In his final point, Gottlieb said that the president should not have the authority to subject helpless government employees to a virtual mob in an effort to reverse an election. There is no way to put a price on the public’s trust in our democratic system, on Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss, and on everyone else he has lied to.
On Wednesday, after court, Giuliani informed reporters that he planned to testify on his own behalf; however, on Thursday morning, the former prosecutor’s lawyer, Joseph Sibley, announced that Giuliani would not be taking the stand.
Sibley informed the jury that the decision was made to spare Moss and Freeman, whose heartfelt testimony he had earlier praised as authentic and convincing, any additional pain.
“These women have been through enough,” Sibley added, criticising Giuliani for being “irresponsible” in not conducting an inquiry and for fueling false accusations against Freeman and Moss.
Because federal judge Beryl Howell had already ruled Giuliani legally liable for defaming Moss and Freeman and inflicting emotional distress upon them, the rare four-day civil trial was a departure from the norm.
In addition to finding that the former mayor was involved in a civil conspiracy with Trump and his campaign to spread lies about the duo, Howell also found that Giuliani failed to cooperate with pretrial discovery in the case. The election workers never sued Trump or his campaign, but that didn’t stop him from featuring heavily in the testimonies and arguments.
Judgement from the judge left the jury with the exclusive responsibility of calculating Giuliani’s exact liability for damages.
Whether Moss and Freeman will ever get a dime of the compensation that the jury decides Giuliani must pay is anybody’s guess. Their attorneys hinted to that possibility in the latter moments of the case. Howell’s decisions highlighted Giuliani’s concealment of his wealth, and reports detailing Giuliani’s bleak financial situation have surfaced in the past few months. When he needed help paying expenses or funding his legal defence, he would sometimes go to Trump’s PAC. A verdict similar to the one Moss and Freeman are requesting would be the “civil equivalent of the death penalty,” Sibley informed the jury.
While the trial was continuing, Giuliani seemed to hurt his own case, despite the possibility of a huge damage payout. In his closing remarks, Gottlieb aired remarks Giuliani made outside the courthouse on Monday, in which he attacked Freeman and Moss again, stating unequivocally that his accusations of election fraud by the two were accurate.
Obviously, I have no qualms about it. After telling the truth, Giuliani addressed a row of cameras. They were actively trying to sway the vote…. Keep an eye out.
That information, which Gottlieb proudly exhibited to the jury, ran counter to what his own attorney had contended in court.
“Mr. Giuliani has repeatedly demonstrated his unwillingness to refrain from mentioning our clients, despite the existence of facts,” Gottlieb stated. He’s subtly hinting that he’ll pull this stunt again. Put your trust in him.”
Sibley appeared to concede in an unusually lenient close that the claims made by Giuliani, including those made this week, regarding the election workers and election fraud were not grounded in reality.
According to Sibley, Rudy Giuliani is a decent man. “Some of the events of the past few days have not exactly helped him.”
According to Sibley, his client’s stubbornness stems from resentment over past situations in which his client’s unconventional opinions—on matters such as Hunter Biden’s laptop—were correct.
According to Sibley, that is one reason why he is finding it difficult to accept some aspects of this case. “My client is approaching the age of 80.”
Sibley said that Giuliani had a minimal role in the storm of allegations that defamed the election staff. The counsel for Giuliani singled out the Gateway Pundit, a conservative website that is currently the target of a separate lawsuit by Moss and Freeman. A video from a security camera that the Trump campaign had tweeted along with the first accusations that the two were involved in fraud was published on that site.
Giuliani did not create the now-infamous video. Someone else created it. Saying, “I’m not excusing the conduct,” Sibley swiftly added, “He relied on others.” It is not justifiable.
Despite Howell’s previous ruling holding Giuliani accountable, she expressed her satisfaction on Thursday with the trial’s ability to expose the facts that Giuliani disregarded while persisting in his accusations of ballot manipulation.
Howell, who was appointed by President Obama, stated, “I… view all that evidence being presented here as a public service.”