Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani owes almost $150 million after making defamatory statements about two Georgia election workers.
According to The National Pulse, Giuliani claimed election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss took part in a ballot fraud scheme in Fulton County, Georgia during the 2020 presidential election.
Giuliani has been ordered to pay $16,171,000 for defamation and $20 million for emotional distress to Freeman as well as $16,998,000 for defamation and $20 million for emotional distress to Moss.
He also owed $75 million to both plaintiffs for punitive damages.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote in the opinion that Giuliani has
bemoaned plaintiffs’ efforts to secure his compliance as ‘punishment by process.’”
“Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention,” Howell noted.
Giuliani responded to the court’s decision in a statement, sharing on X, “The absurdity of the amount is indicative of the absurdity and unfairness of the entire proceeding. It bore no resemblance to a trial in a country with the rule of law. I wasn’t able to offer any evidence in my defense. We’ll have more to say and look forward to the appeal.”
The former New York City Mayor told reporters that he has “no doubt that my comments were made, and they were supportable and are supportable today.”
“I just did not have an opportunity to present the evidence that we offered,” he added.