Rudy Giuliani, President-elect Donald Trump’s former campaign lawyer, has been found in civil contempt for the second time in a week in his $148 million defamation case against two Georgia election workers.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington found him in contempt for continuing to defame Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea’ “Shaye” Moss, despite signing a cease-and-desist order. Howell threatened Giuliani with jail if he continued to violate court orders.
“It is outrageous and shameful that Mr. Giuliani dares to suggest that he is the one who is being treated unfairly,” Howell told reporters.
She ordered Giuliani to submit a court document within ten days stating that testimony and evidence presented during his civil trial in 2023 directly contradicted his statements. Giuliani will face a $200 fine for each day he does not file the court declaration, she said.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in New York found Giuliani in contempt. Liman had ordered the former mayor of New York City to turn over valuables to the women, including a Mercedes Benz once owned by Lauren Bacall, a Manhattan apartment, and an autographed Joe DiMaggio baseball jersey, to help settle his debt.
Giuliani attacked Howell on social media, calling her “bloodthirsty” and claiming she would make a “highly prejudiced, usual, biased decision.” Giuliani described the hearing as a “hypocritical waste of time” in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“This was a farce,” Giuliani told journalists outside the courthouse. “She put on an absolute farce and a clown show.”
Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani for defamation after he falsely claimed they were stuffing ballot boxes while counting votes at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena.
Guiliani claimed they were “passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine.” Freeman and Moss testified at a US House hearing that they were passing out ginger mints.
But since the $148 million judgment in December 2023, Freeman and Moss claim Giuliani has not given them “a single dollar” from his cash accounts.
According to court records, Giuliani turned over the car without the ownership title, the apartment still shows Giuliani’s ex-wife as the owner, and the jersey was never turned over.
“He willfully refused to search for and produce documents that would have been responsive to the plaintiffs’ request for production,” Aaron Nathan, a lawyer for the women, stated during the first contempt hearing.
Despite the lawsuit judgment, the election workers claimed Giuliani continued to defame them on his podcast, “America’s Mayor Live.”
On November 19, 2024, Giuliani accused the women of “quadruple counting” votes on election night, according to a court filing.
According to a court filing, on November 21, 2024, Giuliani called the injunction against criticizing the women “a little ridiculous” and said “to hell with it.”
Giuliani, 80, claims the lawsuit has upended his life, but he has not “willfully disobeyed” any court orders.
“There’s been substantial compliance,” Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Cammarata, told Liman on Monday. “There is no defiance to the court.”
The defamation case is just one of several lawsuits Giuliani is facing after aggressively challenging Trump’s 2020 election results with baseless allegations of widespread fraud.
Giuliani is facing criminal charges for election interference in Arizona and Georgia. He was barred from practicing law in both New York and Washington.
