Jury begins deliberating in Rudy Giuliani defamation case

Jurors have begun deliberating in the multi-million dollar defamation case against Rudy Giuliani.

Ex-poll worker Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss are suing Mr Giuliani after he falsely claimed they played a role in election fraud.

They are seeking damages of up to $43m (£34m).

A judge has already found that Mr Giuliani defamed the two and it is now up to eight jurors to decide exactly how much he will have to pay.

In closing arguments on Thursday, Joseph Sibley, Mr Giuliani’s lawyer, urged the jury to be measured as they consider the penalty.

Lawyers for Ms Freeman and Ms Moss are “asking you to reward a catastrophic amount of damages”, he argued.

He said that, although the former mayor of New York did spread lies after the 2020 presidential election, he was not as responsible – or as malicious – as lawyers for the two have argued.

“I’m not asking for a hall pass today,” Mr Sibley told the jury. “I’m asking you to remember that this is a man who did great things.”

Michael Gottlieb, the lawyer for Ms Freeman and Ms Moss, painted a different picture, calling Mr Giuliani “patient zero” of the misinformation.

He said that, during three days of evidence and testimony, the jury “experienced a sliver of the unspeakable horror that [Ms Freeman and Ms Moss] suffered”.

Mr Giuliani had been expected to testify in his own defence on Thursday but those plans were abruptly cancelled. His lawyer said it was because “we feel like these women have been through enough”.

The jury heard from both women this week.

In courtroom testimony in Washington DC on Wednesday, Ms Freeman recounted having to flee her home after a group of Trump supporters gathered outside and the FBI told her she was in danger.

The incident happened after Mr Giuliani shared a video of them, which he falsely said showed evidence of ballot tampering.

“I took it as though they were going to hang me with their ropes on my street,” Ms Freeman said. “I was scared. I didn’t know if they were coming to kill me.”

Ms Freeman said that she was left isolated by Mr Giuliani’s actions. Friends and acquaintances grew afraid to be linked to her, and she has felt forced to live a life of seclusion because of lingering fears she will be recognised publicly.

“It’s so scary, any time I go somewhere, if I have to use my name,” she said. “Now I don’t have a name, really.”

Mr Giuliani played a significant part in Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and amplified the former president’s claims that the election was fraudulent.

Northwestern University Professor Ashley Humphreys, a trial witness and sociologist who specialises in consumer behaviour, testified on Wednesday that Mr Giuliani’s defamatory statements were seen up to 56 million times on social media platforms.