Unfazed by latest lawsuit, Giuliani re-ups fraud claims that cost him $148 million
Rudy Giuliani doubled down on his election-related allegations Monday, just days after two Georgia election workers won millions in a defamation lawsuit against him and hours after they filed another suit against him.
The former New York mayor must pay $148 million in damages to election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss as a result of their emotional distress following Giuliani’s accusations that the two were manipulating ballots in 2020. The second lawsuit sought to keep him from repeating the debunked claims at the heart of the first case.
In a rambling interview with Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt, Giuliani blasted the verdict, describing the court as a “fascist system run by the Biden regime.”
Giuliani told Schmitt that he still believes the allegations to be true, but that they “want me to lie.”
“They are suing me in order to lie to them. I’m sorry, I can’t do it,” Giuliani said. “If I showed you the evidence right now … people would see that what I said was absolutely true and there’s support for it.”
Giuliani said that the “judge decided I was guilty, not based on any evidence, but based on the fact that I didn’t turn over some financial documents.”
Despite being expected to testify during the four-day trial, Giuliani’s team did not have him take the stand.
The interview took place hours after Freeman and Moss filed a new lawsuit against Giuliani in an attempt to bar him from any future defamatory claims. On Dec. 11, outside the courthouse, Giuliani told reporters that he regretted nothing about what he had said because "they were engaged in changing votes."
On Monday, Giuliani described the second suit as “un-American,” and asked: “Are they actually going to put a gag on me?”
In August, District Judge Beryl Howell imposed a default judgment against Giuliani, saying that he had repeatedly failed to comply with orders to produce evidence sought by Freeman and Moss. The case then proceeded to the stage where damages were to be determined.
Following the verdict, Giuliani told reporters outside the courthouse Friday he is planning to appeal. The outcome included $75 million in “punitive” damages as an attempt to deter future attempts to defame election workers counting ballots in subsequent elections.