Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, spearhead of the former Republican president’s campaign to invalidate the results of the 2020 election, was ordered on Friday to pay some $148 million to two agents elections that he had defamed.
Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, two Georgia state election officials, had requested at least $24 million for each in federal court in Washington.
The jury awarded each of them nearly 17 million dollars in compensation, 20 million for moral damage, and a total amount of 75 million in damages, American media said.
Reading a statement leaving the court, Mme Moss described the “devastating” years she and her mother experienced because of “Rudy Giuliani’s lies.”
“The flame that Giuliani lit with these lies, which he passed on to many others to fan that flame, has changed every aspect of our lives, our homes, our families, our work, our sense of security and our health mental,” she listed.
Based on a video showing the mother and her daughter passing an object – which turned out to be a mint lozenge – during the counting of the ballots, the ex-mayor and ex-prosecutor of New York claimed that they exchanged a USB key “as if they were doses of heroin or cocaine” to fake the results.
The complainants, both black, recounted how these accusations, taken up by Donald Trump on social networks, earned them a flood of insults and threats, often of a racist nature.
“Giuliani was not the only one”
After recognizing in July the falsity of his accusations against the two electoral agents, Mr. Giuliani affirmed on Friday “to have no doubt that his statements were tenable at the time and were still tenable today”, but to have been prevented from providing proof.
“The absurdity of this amount only highlights the absurdity of the entire procedure. I am therefore confident that when this case arrives before a fair court, it will be canceled very quickly,” he assured, indicating his intention to appeal.
Asked about his possible regrets for the attacks suffered by the two women, he admitted that “these comments were abominable”, but assured that he was in no way responsible for them.
“Rudy Giuliani was not the only one to spread lies about us and others must be held accountable, but that will be for later,” declared Ruby Freeman, in a probable allusion to Donald Trump.
Judge Beryl Howell had already, in August, found Rudy Giuliani guilty of defamation and ordered him to reimburse the legal fees of the two electoral agents.
Reputed to be virtually ruined, Rudy Giuliani is also being sued by a law firm which represented him for several years and is claiming $1.3 million in unpaid debts.
Rudy Giuliani was criminally indicted in August by the Georgia courts along with Donald Trump and 17 others for illicit manipulation to reverse the results of the 2020 election in this key state.
Four of the 19 defendants initially targeted by the indictment issued on August 14, notably under a law on organized crime, have already pleaded guilty. They were sentenced to reduced sentences, without prison time, in exchange for their testimony at the future trial of the other defendants.