Rudy Giuliani’s defense lawyers say paying $43 million to election workers he defamed would be ‘death penalty’

Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer urged jurors in Washington, D.C., not to impose the civil “death penalty” on him and instead award damages at a “fair and proportionate” figure.

The lawsuit comes at the start of a defamation trial in which two Georgia election workers are seeking $43 million in damages and a judge has already ruled that Donald Trump’s former lawyer defamed them.

Giuliani’s lawyer Joseph Sibley said Monday his client should not be held responsible for the actions of others and said the two workers were seeking the “civil equivalent of the death penalty.”

Vandrea “Shai” Moss, a former Fulton County voter registration worker, testified Tuesday on the second day of Giuliani’s defamation trial that her life was “turned upside down” in early December 2020 when Trump allies began falsely report her and her mother, Ruby Freeman. , who engaged in election fraud after the November elections.

She told jurors Tuesday that she feared for her life after Giuliani and other Trump allies falsely accused her of trying to rig the 2020 election.

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, faces the civil equivalent of the “death penalty,” according to his lawyer. A jury will decide on damages after two former Georgia election workers successfully sued him in civil court.

“How can a person with so much power go out in public and talk about things that he obviously has no idea about?” Moss, 39, said of Giuliani. “It’s just obviously a lie.”

Jurors in the case are presenting biographies that tell the story of the federal city where Giuliani’s financial future will be determined. It includes a forest service official, a military intelligence analyst, a Girl Scout accountant and an Al Jazeera journalist. CBS News reported.

A federal judge has already found that Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, defamed Moss and Freeman. The only question the jury will have to decide is how much Giuliani owes in damages.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who is overseeing the case, scolded Giuliani earlier Tuesday for repeating the allegations as he left the courthouse after the first day of the trial.

The court will determine whether and if Giuliani must pay Shay Moss (left) and her mother Ruby Freeman (right) after former President Donald Trump’s lawyer repeatedly made debunked claims that they were trying to steal the election for Joe. how much money. Biden

Giuliani’s lawyer said there was limited evidence that his statements caused harm to the two workers.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who is overseeing the case, scolded Giuliani earlier Tuesday for repeating the allegations as he left the courthouse after the first day of the trial.

Giuliani told reporters Monday outside the courthouse that “everything I said was true” and again accused Moss and Freeman of “changing votes,” according to an ABC News report. Giuliani confirmed in court on Tuesday that he made the statement.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers noted that the judge had already found Giuliani’s previous statements to be false and he should not be allowed to challenge that decision at trial.

Howell said Giuliani’s remarks Monday “could support another libel suit” and rejected his lawyer’s claim in court that the workers were “good people.”

The judge said it would be “grossly unfair” for Giuliani to make such statements when he testifies at his trial, expected later this week.

Giuliani’s lawyer, Joseph Sibley, told the judge the case was “damaging” to Giuliani, 79, but he would be able to refute his client’s claims in court.

“I can’t control what he says outside the courtroom,” Sibley said.