Rudy Giuliani Must Pay $148 Million for Smearing Georgia Poll Workers
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(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s former top campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani must pay $148 million to two 2020 Georgia election workers after promoting conspiracy theories about them, a federal jury in Washington determined.
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The verdict on Friday followed a trial on damages Giuliani must pay to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss for harm to their reputations and other impacts, including lost wages and mental anguish.
“The lies Rudy Giuliani told about me and my mommy,” Moss said in front of the courthouse after the verdict, “have changed our lives.”
“I want people to understand this,” Freeman added. “Money will never solve all of my problems. I can never move back into the house that I called home. I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I choose to share my name with.”
Freeman and her daughter had asked for $48 million in damages, to be split equally between them. The jury ordered Giuliani to pay them more than three times that amount. It’s one of the largest awards in recent years, although far less than the more than $1 billion Alex Jones was ordered to pay to families of the victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The former New York City mayor was found liable by US District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington in August for defaming Freeman and Moss by promoting false claims that they tampered with ballot counting. A subsequent jury trial was held to determine the damages.
Giuliani said he would appeal and seek a new trial.
“This a fight of principle,” Giuliani told reporters. “I understand that I could’ve done a lot of things to make this go away. The reason I didn’t make it go away is for the American people. The election of 2020 has to be exposed because if not, our country will no longer be a democracy.”
Giuliani, 79, declined to testify at the damages trial, despite repeatedly saying publicly that he would do so.
Spreading Falsehoods
Giuliani played a central role in spreading falsehoods that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud that would have changed the outcome — claims that Trump and his allies continue to repeat as he ramps up his current presidential campaign.
Moss and Freeman testified during the trial that their lives were torn apart as a result of a smear campaign promoted by Giuliani, who pushed false claims that they took actions to rig the election against Trump. At times the two women broke down in tears.
“Every single aspect of my life has changed,” Moss said. She said she was most scared of her “mom finding me hanging on our tree outside of our house.”
She said part of her goal with the lawsuit was to help prevent similar campaigns in the future against other election workers, some of whom she said now wear bulletproof vests.
“I’m sure by hitting someone in the pockets, especially someone whose whole career is about their pockets, that will leave an impression about the next person who tries to spew lies about the next election worker,” she said.
Giuliani’s lawyer Joseph Sibley told the jury that the damages would amount to the “civil equivalent of the death penalty” for his client. He appeared to be referring to the financial hardships Giuliani has faced from the civil and criminal cases against him. Sibley acknowledged there was significant evidence of the harm Freeman and Moss suffered but argued many other people besides Giuliani were responsible.
The case is Freeman v. Herring Networks, Inc. (21-cv-03354), US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
(Updates with reaction from Giuliani, Moss and Freeman.)
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