Giuliani rejected judge’s order in defamation case, campaign official says

Rudy Giuliani failed to comply with a federal judge’s order to turn over evidence and pay legal fees to poll workers he defamed, a new court filing says.

In documents filed Thursday, attorneys for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss say Giuliani “did not take any of the actions” a federal judge ordered him to take by Sept. 20, including paying $89,000 in legal fees the two election workers.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., issued the order last month in response to Giuliani’s failure to comply with previous court orders.

A lawyer and spokesman for Giuliani did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday evening.

In her Verdict Last month, Howell criticized Giuliani for repeatedly violating court orders requiring him to provide necessary information to Freeman and Moss for their civil lawsuit alleging he defamed them after the 2020 presidential election.

“The bottom line is that Giuliani refused to comply with his discovery obligations and thwarted the procedural rights of plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye Moss to obtain meaningful discovery in this case.” Howell wrote.

She granted Freeman and Moss a default judgment in August, finding that Giuliani “will be held civilly liable for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and plaintiffs’ damages.”

Howell also ordered Giuliani to turn over personal and business financial documents by September 20 and to pay attorneys for Freeman and Moss the legal fees associated with trying to get him to comply with court orders. In addition, it ordered his companies to pay $43,684 for costs related to a similar motion, “with interest accruing on that amount from September 20, 2023 until the date of final judgment against Giuliani personally, if his namesake companies.” do not meet these requirements.”

In a separate ruling Thursday, ahead of the filing by Freeman and Moss, Howell set a trial date of Dec. 11 to determine a dollar amount for damages in the defamation case.

Earlier this week, Giuliani was sued by his former lawyers, who claimed he owed about $1.4 million in unpaid legal fees. Giuliani responded that the figure “goes beyond anything even remotely close to legitimate charges.”

In their lawsuit, Freeman and Moss accused Giuliani of upending their lives by falsely claiming that they had done so committed electoral fraud while working as a poll worker in Fulton County, Georgia.

Giuliani had claimed that the couple “passed around USB ports as if they were vials of heroin or cocaine” during vote counting in the 2020 election. The House Committee Report January 6th I found out they passed a ginger mint.

Freeman received death threats over Giuliani’s repeated claims, which were confirmed by then-President Donald Trump.

Both Trump and Giuliani have been criminally charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for their roles in the harassment campaign against them, as well as other alleged plots aimed at overturning Joe Biden’s victory in the state in 2020.

Both have pleaded not guilty.