Giuliani defamation trial: Jury awards election workers nearly $150 million
The amount is three times as much as plaintiffs were seeking.
Following a week-long trial, a federal jury has ordered former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to pay nearly $150 million to former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss for defaming them with false accusations that the mother and daughter committed election fraud while the two were counting ballots in Georgia's Fulton County on Election Day in 2020.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in August awarded a default judgment to the two women, leaving the trial to determine the full scope of the damages and penalties. Freeman and Moss were seeking between $15.5 million and an amount in the $40 million range.
Top headlines:
- Jury awards Freeman, Moss $75 million apiece
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- Giuliani won't testify, attorney says
- Freeman tearfully testifies she left her home due to threats
- Fixing plaintiffs' reputations will cost up to $47M, says expert
- Moss, through tears, describes life after Giuliani's accusations
- Georgia investigators dispel election fraud claims
- Judge blasts Giuliani for 'additional defamatory' remarks
- Expert describes racist content 'on a level we don't see'
Plaintiffs to call expert on reputation repair
Day 3 of the trial is scheduled to begin with a witness deposition video, finishing up the series of deposition videos that was played in court yesterday.
Plaintiffs' attorney are then expected to call an expert witness to the stand to testify about the impact of Giuliani's statements.
The testimony is expected to address the estimated cost to repair the damage done to Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman's reputations.
Giuliani refrains from commenting on case
After court was adjourned for the day, Rudy Giuliani told reporters outside court that he would not comment on the case after the judge slammed the remarks he made after court Monday.
"I'm not going to discuss the case anymore because it seemed to get the judge annoyed," he told reporters.
Court will resume Wednesday morning.
Court adjourns for the day
Following Shaye Moss' testimony and the playing of several video depositions, Day 2 of the trial adjourned for the day.
When court resumes on Wednesday, Michael Gottlieb, an attorney for Freeman and Moss, said he plans to show one final deposition video of poll observer Pamela Michelle Branton.
Plaintiffs' attorneys also plan to call an expert witness to testify about the impacts of Giuliani's false accusations, according to court papers filed in the case.
Attorneys play video depositions from Giuliani aides
Attorneys for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss played excerpts from previously recorded video depositions with Trump associate Bernie Kerik and attorneys Christina Bobb, and Jenna Ellis in part to demonstrate Giuliani's leading role in efforts to uncover evidence of systemic election fraud.
They never found it.
Kerik, the former police commissioner in New York City, described a document in the team's legal playbook, which included a section about Freeman. Bobb, a onetime attorney for then-President Trump, described the makeup of Giuliani's legal team.
In the recording of Ellis, a former Trump attorney, she repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as attorneys for the two women peppered her with questions about her work with Giuliani in the aftermath of the election.
Plaintiffs' expert says accusations reached wide audience
Dr. Ashlee Humphreys, an expert in sociology and communications, took the stand for the plaintiffs to testify about the reach of Giuliani's false election fraud claims online and on social media.
Humphreys said that prior to December 3, 2020, "there was practically no search traffic" for Ruby Freeman. After that day, Humphreys said there was a "dramatic increase over a period of months."
Humphreys said some of the search terms between December 2020 and January 2021 were "Ruby Freeman arrested," "Ruby Freeman fraud" and "Ruby Freeman FBI."
During her testimony, Humphreys walked through her analysis of the total number of times content had been displayed to uses, known as "impressions." Her impression analysis of several videos and posts by Giuliani and former President Trump included a Dec. 23, 2020, podcast in which Giuliani mentioned Moss and Freeman, which Humphreys said received between 584,855 to 807,751 impressions.
An advertising post by the Trump campaign that falsely claimed Freeman and Moss stuffed ballots in suitcases received between 8 million and 18.2 impressions, Humphreys said.
Some of the statements Humphreys said she found in her research were from Giuliani's "strategic communications plan" to challenge the election results, which included references to Moss and Freeman.