WASHINGTON (CN) — Two former Georgia election workers sued Rudy Giuliani on Monday over his claims they committed election fraud during the 2020 election — even in the middle of a jury trial last week.
The suit comes after an eight-person jury found Friday that Giuliani owed Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss $148 million in damages for his baseless claims that the mother and daughter helped rig the state’s election for President Joe Biden, and the flood of racist death threats that followed.
Now Freeman and Moss want a federal judge to bar Giuliani from making further false claims against them.
Freeman and Moss brought their initial suit against Giuliani in December 2021 after he had posted security camera footage from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta which he claimed showed them smuggling suitcases of fraudulent ballots and forcing poll workers and journalists out of the building.
He first posted the video on his Common Sense podcast on Dec. 3, 2020, and continued making further claims until Jan. 6, 2021, to validate his and Donald Trump’s effort to spread doubt on the 2020 election results and maintain their grip on power.
The two Black women were then subjected to a relentless wave of hate from Trump’s supporters, who accused them of committing treason and threatened to lynch them.
According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District for the District of Columbia, Giuliani continued repeating his claims on right-wing media, including on Newsmax and Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast.
The Newsmax interview came just hours after the jury’s verdict on Friday, where he claimed he had video evidence proving his allegations were true but he was not allowed to present it at trial.
In the complaint, Freeman and Moss claim Giuliani’s statements wrongly implies he has video evidence and makes clear he plans to continue his “campaign of targeted defamation and harassment.”
“It must stop,” the women say in their complaint. “In these unique circumstances, the proper remedy is a targeted injunction barring defendant Giuliani from continuing to repeat the very falsehood about Plaintiffs that have already been found and held, conclusively, to be defamatory.”
Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani, declined to comment on the lawsuit, instead pointing to Giuliani's political record as mayor of New York City.
"The Rudy Giuliani you see today is the same man who took down the mafia, cleaned up New York City, lifted hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty, and comforted the nation — and world — following the terrorist attacks of September 11." Goodman said in a statement.
Before the trial began, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell determined that Giuliani had forfeited his case by refusing to turn over documents that would have revealed his podcast’s reach, his net worth and his financial situation, entering a default judgment against him this past August.
Following the first day of the trial last Monday, Giuliani spoke to a group of reporters outside the Elijah Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington and refused to walk back his claims.
“Of course I don’t regret it,” Giuliani said. “I told the truth. They were engaged in changing votes.”
The next day Howell admonished Giuliani for his comments, warning him that they “could support another defamation claim.”
Freeman and Moss want the court to “permanently bar” Giuliani from “persisting in his defamatory campaign” against them, but aren't seeking additional damages. They're represented by attorney Michael Gottlieb.
Giuliani’s comments continued throughout the week with multiple comments to reporters, where he continued to skirt responsibility for the fallout Freeman and Moss endured, even after they both provided emotional testimony on the stand.
Throughout trial, Giuliani had indicated he would testify but suddenly reversed course Thursday morning when he was scheduled to take the stand.
In comments to reporters following the jury’s verdict, Giuliani said he didn’t testify because he thought Howell, a Barack Obama appointee, would hold him in contempt “if I did anything wrong.”
Throughout the trial, Howell made clear she would not tolerate any defense on Giuliani’s part that would rehash his baseless accusations or challenge Giuliani’s liability for the threats the plaintiffs endured.
She denied such defenses as they went against her previous ruling in the case that Giuliani had defamed Freeman and Moss.
The second lawsuit comes after a particularly difficult week for Giuliani, formerly known as “America’s Mayor" given his role as mayor of New York City during the 9/11 attacks.
In addition to the defamation damages, he also faces disbarment in Washington, racketeering charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and an inclusion as an unnamed co-conspirator in Trump’s Washington indictment.
Giuliani has pleaded not guilty in the Georgia case — where he faces several racketeering charges under the same act he popularized with his prosecution of New York mobsters in the 1980s — and has not been charged in Washington.
Follow @Ryan_Knappy
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
GOP sues Nevada over late mail-in ballots May 3, 2024 -
