Rudy Giuliani may have to pay Georgia election workers millions for defamation
Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman talked about the damage caused by the Trump campaign’s allegations at a televised congressional hearings
Rudy Giuliani stands trial this week in a defamation case brought by two 2020 poll workers from Georgia.
Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss say Mr Giuliani spread lies that they tampered with votes, inspiring people to threaten them with violence.
A federal judge already ruled Mr Giuliani is liable for defamatory statements. This trial will determine damages and penalties.
The two are seeking up to $43m (£34m).
The trial began on Monday in Washington with jury selection and opening statements from both sides.
Ms Moss took the stand on Tuesday to testify about the fallout of Mr Giuliani’s claims.
Beginning on 4 December 2020, about a month after the election, everything “flipped upside down” for her and her mother, she said.
“All these crazy lies were spread about us on that day,” she said, according to NBC News. “Publicly. Everywhere.”
As a lawyer to Donald Trump, Mr Giuliani played a central role in the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and amplified Mr Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He has also been charged in a separate election interference case brought by Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia.
Mr Giuliani had singled out Ms Freeman and Ms Moss and accused them of tampering with votes at the Georgia polling location where they worked.
He claimed a video showed them passing a USB drive like “vials of cocaine or heroin” when, in reality, they were exchanging a mint.
Georgia election officials debunked his accusations and other falsehoods about election fraud, and recounts affirmed that Mr Biden won the state.
Still, the women say they were deluged with threats that upended their lives.
In his opening statement on Monday, Von DuBose, an attorney for Ms Freeman and Ms Moss, played messages that his clients received.
“Have a nice life. What’s left of it,” a person said in one recording.
It was among “hundreds and hundreds of messages” sent to the women, Mr DuBose said.
The two gained national attention last year when they testified at primetime hearings held by the congressional committee investigating 6 Jan about how the lies affected their lives.
Judge Beryl Howell already ruled against Mr Giuliani in August, after he failed to provide information demanded by subpoenas.
The latest phase of the trial is to determine how much in damages Mr Giuliani will owe the women. They are asking a jury to award them between $15m and $43m (£11.9m to £34m).
In July, Mr Giuliani conceded that he made defamatory statements about the women. He said, though, that his comments about the 2020 election were protected as free speech and that his statements did not cause damage.
Joseph Sibley, an attorney for Mr Giuliani, said the plaintiffs were “trying to end Mr. Giuliani”.
Mr Giuliani, whose legal bills have been mounting since the 2020 election, cannot afford the damages being sought, his lawyers have said.
Still, the one-time mayor of New York did not express remorse when speaking to reporters outside court on Monday.
“Of course I don’t regret it,” he said.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67696511?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
