Rudy Giuliani draws rebuke for a courtroom outburst accusing judge in assets case of being unfair
NEW YORK– In an outburst of anger in a New York courtroom, Rudy Giuliani accused a judge Tuesday of making wrong assumptions about him as he tried to comply with an order requiring him to hand over most of his assets to two election workers who won a defamation case against him.
U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman responded by saying he won’t let the former New York City mayor and former presidential candidate blurt out things in court anymore unless he is a sworn witness.
The interruption to an otherwise routine hearing in Manhattan came when the judge questioned Giuliani’s attorney about why Giuliani has not yet provided title to a car he gave up in his effort to a $148 million defamation judgment won by two former election workers in Georgia.
“Your client was the U.S. attorney for this district,” the judge said, referring to Giuliani’s years in the 1980s as head of the federal prosecutor’s office in the Southern District of New York as he suggested it was difficult to believe that Giuliani was not able to get a duplicate title for the car.
Learning ahead, Giuliani began speaking into a microphone, telling the judge that he had requested a duplicate of the car’s title, but it had not yet arrived.
“The implication that I haven’t been diligent about it is completely false,” Giuliani said in a scolding tone. “The implication you make is against me and any implication against me is wrong.”
Giuliani continued: “I am not impoverished. Everything I have is stuck. I don’t have a car. I don’t have a credit card. I don’t have any cash. I can’t access bank accounts. that would really be from me because they… placed stop orders on, for example, my social security account, which they are not entitled to.
Liman responded by warning defense lawyers that the next time Giuliani interrupts a hearing, “he will not be allowed to speak and the court will take action.”
The judge said Giuliani could choose to represent himself or have lawyers do so, but “you can’t have hybrid representation.”
If Giuliani wants to speak in court again, he could be put on the witness stand and sworn in as a witness, Liman added.
The exchange took place during a hearing in which the judge declined to postpone a Jan. 16 trial over the disposition of Giuliani’s Florida residence and World Series rings.
Those are two sets of assets that Giuliani is trying to protect as part of confiscation Liman’s order to transfer many valuable assets to the poll workers.
Earlier in the proceedings, attorney Joseph M. Cammarata asked Liman to delay the trial, which will be heard without a jury, for a month because of Giuliani’s “involvement” in President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration planning.
“My client regularly consults and deals directly with President-elect Trump on issues arising as the new administration takes office and the inauguration,” Cammarata said. “My client wants to exercise his political right to be there. ”
The judge denied the request, saying Giuliani’s “social agenda” was not a reason to delay the trial.
Giuliani, who was once Trump’s personal lawyer, was found liable last year for defaming two Georgia poll workers by falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential election, the women said they faced death threats after Giuliani falsely claimed they smuggled in ballots in suitcases, counted the ballots multiple times and tampered with voting machines.