Rudy Giuliani learns his fate for defaming Georgia election workers after spectacular rant at judge

A federal judge found former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court on Friday the second time in a week after he called her “bloodthirsty” in an online rant.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell of Washington, D.C. warned him that he could be sent to prison if he doesn’t stop spreading lies about two former election workers in Georgia who won an election. A $148 libel judgment against him.

“It is outrageous and shameful that Mr. Giuliani dares to suggest that he is the one being treated unfairly,” the judge said in court Friday.

Howell found that the former New York mayor had violated court orders preventing him from defaming Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman. The judge ordered him to review trial testimony and other material from the case, warning him that future violations could land him behind bars. It comes as Giuliani has continued to try to sell his signature coffee to make money while failing to comply with an order to turn over his classic Mercedes and other items as payment to the vilified election workers.

That came after he attacked Judge Howell on January 6, calling her biased.

“Judge Beryl Howell, the Obama appointee so bloodthirsty that she is deeply disappointed with the convictions of the more than a thousand J-6 defendants (more convicted of felonies than felonies), has us waiting all day for her unavoidable, highly biased, usual A biased decision,” Giuliani wrote.

“Like Judge Liman in New York, whose detailed opinion was reached and written before I had completed my final three-hour testimony, this decision was already clear from her prior opinion and her overall pathological hatred of all things Trump. The hearing is a hypocritical waste of time and a disgusting example of Biden judicial practice. Howell and Liman, if they weren’t so biased, would recuse themselves. I will soon reveal my true feelings about this systemic destruction of our American justice system.”

Moss and Freeman filed a lawsuit Giuliani for defamation for falsely accusing them of committing election fraud in connection with the 2020 election. His lies turned their lives upside down with racist threats and intimidation.

Giuliani smiled and chuckled as the judge explained why she held him in contempt of court. Howell, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, said it is “outrageous and shameful” for Giuliani to suggest he is the one who was treated unfairly in the case.

“This takes some real guts, Mr. Giuliani,” she said.

Shortly before the hearing began, Giuliani blasted the judge in a social media post, calling her “bloodthirsty” and biased against him and the proceedings a “hypocritical waste of time.”

“I don’t care what she did. She is a completely farcical judge,” Giuliani said outside the courtroom. ‘She didn’t take into account what I said at all. She wrote it in advance.”

It’s the latest legal setback for Giuliani, who also faces criminal charges and has lost his law license in DC and New York after alleging false claims Trump made about his 2020 election loss.

Giuliani testified briefly at Friday’s hearing, only to verify details of his personal finances.

The judge did not fine Giuliani for his most recent defamatory comments in the case, but she did say she would impose a daily fine of $200 if he does not certify within 10 days that he has complied with her order for depositions and other matters to review. related material.

A jury sided with the mother and daughter in December 2023, awarding them $75 million in damages, plus approximately $73 million in other damages.

Giuliani attacked Judge Beryl Howell in an online post before she found him in contempt

‘Sir. Giuliani began lying about the plaintiffs in December 2020 and refused to stop after being repeatedly told that his election-rigging conspiracy theory about the plaintiffs was baseless, malicious and dangerous. the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.

Giuliani’s lawyers argued that prosecutors have not presented “clear and convincing” evidence that he violated a court order in the defamation case in comments he made on podcasts in November about alleged irregularities in counting ballots in Georgia.

“Giuliani acted in good faith in the belief that his comments did not violate the judgment and that he should not be subject to contempt sanctions.” his lawyers wrote.

Monday in New York, Judge Lewis Liman found Giuliani in contempt of court over related claims that he failed to turn over evidence to help the judge decide whether he can keep a condominium in Palm Beach, Florida.

Giuliani, who testified in Liman’s Manhattan courtroom on Jan. 3, said he did not turn over everything because he believed the requests were too broad, inappropriate or even a “trap” set by the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

The 80-year-old Giuliani had tried to get out of the personal appearance on Friday. He told the judge he received death threats and was told to be careful when traveling. But he withdrew his request to appear virtually after the judge ordered him to explain whether he had traveled from his home in Florida in the past month.

On the witness stand at the defamation trial, Moss and Freeman described fearing for their lives after becoming targets of a false conspiracy theory that Giuliani and other Republicans spread as they tried to keep Trump in power after he won the 2020 election lost to Democrat Joe Biden. . Moss told jurors she tried to change her appearance, rarely leaves her home and suffers from panic attacks.

Giuliani has pleaded not guilty facing nine felony charges in the Arizona case, alleging he spread false claims of election fraud there after the 2020 election.

He was special charged in Georgia along with Trump and other allies of the former president accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. The future of the Georgia case is unclear after an appeals court said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case due to an “appearance of impropriety” caused by a romantic relationship she had with a special prosecutor she hired. run the business.