Alas, poor Rudy, I knew him well, from America’s Mayor to Donald’s lapdog. Giuliani was anticipating a bad verdict, and the numbers kicked around were between $14 and $48 million. His lawyer characterized this as the “civil equivalent of the death penalty” and said such a judgment would mark “the end of Mr. Giuliani.” I wonder how the same lawyer is characterizing this verdict? Or, will characterize it when he wakes up? If it was me, I’d be passed out cold on the floor, I can tell you that much. The Hill:
During the four-day civil trial, the eight Washington, D.C., residents heard harrowing testimony from the workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who said their lives were turned upside down as they faced a torrent of racist and violent threats following the accusations. Giuliani was found liable in the case months ago, and the jury only convened to decide how much the former federal prosecutor must pay in damages. Before deliberations began, the mother-daughter duo asked for more than $47 million.
“Everyone who spread lies about Ms. Moss and Ms. Freeman should be held accountable,” Michael Gottlieb, a lawyer for the two women, said in closing remarks. The jury deliberated for more than 10 hours before ordering Giuliani to pay the election workers a total of $148.7 million. More detail from Axios:
Why it matters: The decision marks another multimillion-dollar penalty in a case related to lies about the 2020 election, and will add to Giuliani’s mounting legal fees and financial troubles.
Backstory: Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, the two Fulton County, Georgia, election workers, sued Giuliani and the right-wing media outlet One America News Network for repeating allegations that they committed ballot fraud.
- OAN was dismissed from the lawsuit last year after settling with Freeman and Moss, while a federal judge in a partial summary judgment in August found Giuliani liable for defaming the election workers.
- The trial was to determine how much in damages Giuliani would owe Freeman and Moss. The pair sought between $15.5 million and $43 million from Giuliani.
- As part of the summary judgment, Giuliani was already required to pay the women $230,000 in legal fees and penalties for not complying with their legal team’s discovery requests.
Zoom in: During the trial, Freeman described the onslaught of threats she and Moss faced in part from the things Giuliani said about them.
- Freeman said they both received numerous racist messages, along with death threats.
- “Pack your s–t. They are coming for you. I’m not far behind. I’m coming for you also. Trash will be taken to the street in bags,” read one of the threats.
- The trial ended without testimony from the ex-Trump lawyer, who had said he intended to speak under oath before backing out.
It’s an amazing judgment. The issue now becomes collecting it. Giuliani no more has $148,000,000 nor the means to get it than he has a unicorn horn in the middle of his forehead. I wonder what the real world disposition of this matter will be?
Ruby Freeman after verdict: “I miss my name.” No money could heal that wound.
I presume Ghouliani will pull an Alex Jones, declare insolvency and pay nothing to his victims. Were there real justice, his house(s) and contents would be seized, sold off and the proceeds go to them. Then ditto for all his hidden bank accounts. He’d be ruined but lucky not to be in prison. I wonder how much OANn paid? Not enough, it’s still broadcasting shit.
When I heard the verdict/award announced my first thought went to an old song that got a fair amount of play on the radio when I was much, much younger. If there’s an afterlife I can hear the late Kenny Rogers singing from a recording studio in the great beyond a variation on the tag line of his song Ruby: Oh Ruuuuu-deeee; Don’t run you big fat mouth” which of course is exactly what he’s continuing to do.
Mentioning Kenny Rogers, you’ve got to wonder why Rudy didn’t heed the advice from another song: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run.” “The Gambler”–written by Don Schlitz
Interestingly enough, the song was first recorded by Bobby Bare in 1976 (best known for a pair of 1963 hits, “Detroit City” and “500 Miles Away from Home”; his version was never released as a single, though) then recorded by Schlitz himself. The “Man in Black” himself, Johnny Cash, also recorded a version of the song on an album that came out roughly the same time that Rogers’ version came out (I mean, literally–Cash’s album was released just two days before Rogers’ label released the single).
Another song from the past: bye bye ms American pie…drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry…them good old boys are drinking whiskey and rye…singing this will be the day that I die…this will be the day that I die…so long asshole…now you can spend your time harassed for money you don’t have.
Do they have classes in arrogance in law school or does it develop later?
Now let’s go after the the Numero Uno Dirt Bag please. Life imprisonment in my septic tank would me too kind..
God bless those poor women! Two civil servants report for work one day and competently perform their duties. They probably left that day feeling good about their performance. But that good feeling didn’t last too long once they landed in guiliani’s sites and were vehmently falsely accused of passing drugs and more at the election counter. Drugs alone wouldn’t be inflammatory enough so he brought in the race card for good measure. Guiliani’s recipe created death threats and every other unthinkable manner of malice. The amount that the women asked for was nothing compared to what they were given which indicates how inflamed that the jury was. This looks good on the outside but was justice really done here. Do those women get their lives back or the money needed to help them create NEW lives? Guiliani’s not in prison and he probably won’t pay them but he’ll live his life as he did before. This same thing could have happened to any of us with the same end result. We need to fix this and return ourselves to the formerly equitable and judicious America before we pass the point of no return. We don’t want to be the victims of this new society which has forgotten so many of us.
This is what happens when you are tramps lap dog. This is what happens when you go from Americas Mayor to tramps useful idiot.
This is what happens when you lie and spread rumors and ruin the lives of 2 innocent people because you tried to overthrow the government.
Giuliani will go down in history as one dumb motherfucker who ruined his life for a morbidly obese clown.