The federal judge overseeing Rudy Giuliani’s defamation damages trial in Washington, DC, rebuked the former Donald Trump lawyer Tuesday over “quite defamatory” comments he made a day earlier to reporters about the two Georgia election workers at the center of the case.
US District Judge Beryl Howell said Giuliani’s comments outside the federal courthouse in DC “could support another defamation claim.”
The remarks about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were “negative, quite defamatory statements about them yet again.”
Speaking to reporters Monday evening following the first day of trial, Giuliani claimed that everything he said about the two women in the wake of the 2020 election was true. Giuliani also repeated the false claim that “they were engaged in changing votes.”
When a reporter responded there was no proof of such an allegation, Giuliani said: “Oh you’re damn right there is. Stay tuned.”
Giuliani has already been found liable for defamation and he owes Freeman and Moss over $230,000 after failing to respond to parts of their lawsuit. The mother and daughter are now seeking tens of millions of dollars, claiming that they have suffered emotional and reputational harm as well as having their safety put in danger after Giuliani singled them out when he made false claims of ballot tampering in Georgia.
Howell sharply questioned Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Sibley, about the fact that his client’s statements were a clear departure from the tone the attorney struck Monday when he delivered opening statements in the trial.
“How do you reconcile those statements … with his statement yesterday after court that they engaged in criminal conduct?” she asked Sibley.
“I can’t control everything he does, your honor,” Sibley said at one point, adding: “I think Mr. Giuliani is well aware of the law of defamation, your honor.”
Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, also previously served as the lead federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
Later, Howell asked whether Sibley would be able to keep his client from repeating similar comments when he testifies later in the trial.
She said it was “grossly unfair to the plaintiffs if he made those statements on the stand when they have been denied access to the information to cross examine him,” referring to the fact that Giuliani’s has already conceded that he made defamatory comments about Freeman and Moss.
“He seems perfectly capable of following instructions should he be given instructions by the court,” Howell said.
Source : CNN
