Rudy Giuliani , center, leaves federal court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025.AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Former New York City mayor and Trump hanger-on Rudy Giuliani was found in contempt of court on Friday—for the second time in a week. Giuliani faces two different federal lawsuits against him stemming from his comments about a pair of Georgia elections workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, whom he falsely accused of helping rig the 2020 election. He has now been found in contempt of court in both cases and faces additional fines—on top of the $148 million he already owes the two women.
Shortly after the 2020 election, Giuliani falsely said that video footage of the Atlanta vote-counting site where Freeman and Moss—a mother and daughter employed as temporary election officials—were working showed the two women manipulating votes. The lies were later repeated by Donald Trump and spread around the Internet, leading to harassment and death threats against the pair. Freeman and Moss sued Giulani for defamation, and in 2023 a jury voted that he owed them $148 million in damages. Creditors later filed a second lawsuit against Giuliani for failing to cooperate in turning over the assets he owes.
On Monday, Giuliani was found in contempt of court in that second case, based in New York City, where the judge found that while Giuliani had turned over some assets, he had not been forthcoming with important paperwork needed to evaluate what other assets he must relinquish. The judge in that case ruled that Giuliani had “willfully violated a clear and unambiguous order of this court” when he “blew past” a December 20 deadline to provide certain paperwork.
On Friday, Beryl A. Howell, the Washington, D.C., judge in the original defamation case, found Giuliani in contempt because he has continued to defame Freeman and Moss, repeating lies about them even after he lost the original case. In May, Giuliani signed an agreement in which he said he agreed to stop repeating the falsehoods—a promise which he then broke in November with comments he made on his podcast.
In her contempt ruling, Howell gave Giuliani 10 days to file a sworn declaration that he had reviewed all of the testimony and witness statements from the trial, with the idea that it will put him on the record as conclusively acknowledging that his statements about the women are false. Giuliani will be fined $200 a day for every day he does not meet the deadline, and faces potential jail time if he continues to refuse to cooperate.
After court, Giuliani called Howell “bloodthirsty” for her ruling. In addition to the massive judgment against him and multiple lawsuits, Giuliani, 80, has been permanently disbarred in multiple jurisdictions.
