EXCLUSIVE: Defiant Rudy Giuliani says defamation ruling is not a surprise because he got tough January 6 judge – and LAUGHS at claims he was always drunk while working for Trump

A defiant Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday’s legal setback in a libel case isn’t a surprise, as the judge has been harsh with the Jan. 6 defendants — and laughed off questions about alcohol use at work.

Judge Beryl Howell said the former New York City mayor will face more than tens of thousands of fines as punishment for refusing to hand over electronic data in his defamation suit brought by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

‘It’s very simple. You should not be surprised at the outcome of this case. I knew it the moment the judge was alive,” Giuliani told a DailyMail.com photographer. “This is the judge, I don’t know if she is the first or second of the six people who spent the longest time in prison in January.”

“She doesn’t have a nice bone in her body,” he added.

The former New York City mayor also denied being drunk while advising Trump around Election Day 2020 — something Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigators have been investigating.

“First of all when I represented Trump on the election thing, when I represented Trump on the election thing, 24 hours a day, I was in front of four, five, six people,” Giuliani argued. “They can tell you how many times I was drunk.”

Wednesday’s ruling allows the defamation case to move forward to trial in federal court in Washington, DC

It’s unclear how much Giuliani will have to pay, but the fines could be as high as $90,000.

In the meantime, Judge Howell said, Giuliani and his business entities will have to pay more than $130,000 in attorneys’ fees and other expenses.

Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, both Georgia election workers in the 2020 cycle, demanded records in their defamation suit against Giuliani. He refused to hand them over.

Giuliani claimed he could not turn over the evidence for the defamation case because the evidence was in the federal investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election.

“The reason I didn’t comply with the discovery is that the FBI had all my material,” Giuliani said.

“I couldn’t give them the material the FBI had. When the FBI returned it to me, I gave it to them, and the FBI, spying on me for three years, actually compromised some of my material,” the lawyer also claimed.

The case stems from their allegations against Giuliani for spreading false claims of electoral fraud following the 2020 presidential election.

Giuliani previously admitted his statements were false to Moss and Freeman, who claim their reputations were damaged by the comments.

Howell says Giuliani will have one “last chance” to provide the requested information before the discovery of the case or face additional sanctions.

The former New York mayor faces a civil suit in Washington, D.C. federal court to determine how much to surrender in the defamation case.

Giuliani faces a barrage of legal fees, including a $20,000 monthly fee to a company hosting his electronic documents.

Trump’s former attorney is one of 18 co-defendants indicted along with the ex-president in Fulton County over the plan to illegally overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

He turned himself over to authorities at the Fulton County Jail last week and was arrested.

His mugshot was released along with his 17 co-defendants and Trump.

Moss and Freeman’s December 2021 complaint accused Giuliani, one of Trump’s top confidants, of defaming them by falsely claiming they had engaged in fraud while counting the ballots at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena , Georgia after the 2020 election.