Current:Home > FinanceJurors will begin deciding how much Giuliani must pay for lies in a Georgia election workers’ case -MarketLink
Jurors will begin deciding how much Giuliani must pay for lies in a Georgia election workers’ case
View
Date:2025-04-17 03:54:06
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jurors will begin deliberating on Thursday to decide how much Rudy Giuliani must pay two former Georgia election workers for spreading lies about them that led to a barrage of racist threats and upended their lives.
Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages over Giuliani’s false claims accusing them of ballot fraud while the former New York City mayor was fighting to keep Republican Donald Trump in the White House after the November 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The potential hefty damages come at the same time Giuliani is gearing up to defend himself against criminal charges stemming from his legal representation of Trump. Giuliani’s lawyer told jurors the damages the women are seeking “would be the end of Mr. Giuliani.”
In his closing argument, an attorney for Moss and Freeman highlighted how Giuliani has not stopped repeating the false conspiracy theory asserting the workers meddled in the 2020 presidential election. Attorney Michael Gottlieb played a video of Giuliani outside the courthouse earlier this week repeating the false claims about his clients. Giuliani had previously conceded in court documents that he made public comments falsely accusing the women of ballot fraud.
“Mr. Giuliani has shown over and over again he will not take our client’s names out of his mouth,” Gottlieb said. “Facts will not stop him. He says he isn’t sorry and he’s telegraphing he will do this again. Believe him.”
Giuliani’s attorney acknowledged that his client was wrong, but insisted that he was not fully responsible for the vitriol the women faced. He sought to largely pin the blame on a right-wing website that published the surveillance video of the women counting ballots.
Gottlieb described Freeman and Moss as “heroes,” adding that “after everything they went through, they stood up and said, ‘no more.’” He also read from a chapter in Giuliani’s book on leadership where the former mayor said his father told him never to be a bully. The lawyer said: “If only Mr. Giuliani had listened.”
“The lies in this case became a sustained, deliberate, viral campaign, the purpose of which was to overturn an election and have these statements rocket around the world millions and millions of times,” Gottlieb said.
The women’s lawyers are asking for at least $24 million for each woman in defamation damages alone. They’re also seeking compensation for their emotional harm and punitive damages. Gottlieb asked the jury to send a message to other powerful people with the amount they award.
“Facts matter. Truth is truth and you will be held accountable,” he said.
Giuliani’s lawyer has said any award should be much less, describing the damages the women are seeking as the “civil equivalent of the death penalty.” Attorney Joseph Sibley told jurors they should compensate the women for what they are owed, but urged them to “remember this is a great man.”
“I want you to send a message to America, we can come together in compassion and sympathy,” he said.
His lawyer has argued there is no evidence Giuliani himself encouraged the harassment. Sibley told jurors that right-wing website Gateway Pundit was “patient zero” in spreading the conspiracy theory about the women, and said Giuliani was sued because he is “patient deep pockets.”
“Just because these things happened — and they did happen — doesn’t make my client responsible for them,” Sibley said.
Giuliani’s defense rested Thursday morning without calling a single witness after the former mayor reversed course and decided not to take the stand. Giuliani’s lawyer had told jurors in his opening statement that they would hear from his client but after his comments outside court, the judge barred him from claiming in testimony that his conspiracy theories were right.
Giuliani’s lawyer said his client was not testifying because Freeman and Moss had “been through enough.” His testimony also could have been used against him in the criminal case in Georgia.
On the witness stand, Moss and Freeman recounted receiving a torrent of hateful and threatening messages after they became the targets of the conspiracy theory pushed by Giuliani and other Trump allies. The women told jurors the lies made them fear for their lives and described how they remain scared to go out in public years later.
Despite already being held liable in the case, Giuliani repeated his false claims about the women earlier this week. On Monday, he told reporters outside the courthouse that everything he said about the women was “true,” again accusing them of “engaging in changing votes.”
The case is among mounting legal and financial woes for the man once celebrated as “America’s mayor” for his leadership after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Giuliani is among 19 people charged in Georgia in the case accusing Trump and his allies of working to subvert the state’s 2020 election results. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty and characterized the case as politically motivated.
____
Richer reported from Boston.
veryGood! (842)
Related
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- How New York Is Building the Renewable Energy Grid of the Future
- Kim Kardashian Recalls Telling Pete Davidson What You’re Getting Yourself Into During Romance
- World’s Youth Demand Fair, Effective Climate Action
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Amy Schumer Reveals NSFW Reason It's Hard to Have Sex With Your Spouse
- What is a heat dome? What to know about the weather phenomenon baking Texas
- Chicago has the worst air quality in the world due to Canadian wildfire smoke
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- And Just Like That’s Season 2 Trailer Shows Carrie Bradshaw Reunite with an Old Flame
Ranking
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Dispute over seats in Albuquerque movie theater leads to deadly shooting, fleeing filmgoers
- American Climate Video: An Ode to Paradise Lost in California’s Most Destructive Wildfire
- Perry Touts ‘24-7’ Power, Oil Pipelines as Key to Energy Security
- Chuck Scarborough signs off: Hoda Kotb, Al Roker tribute legendary New York anchor
- Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly Prove Their Twin Flame Is Burning Bright During London Outing
- McCarthy says I don't know if Trump is strongest GOP candidate in 2024
- Robert De Niro Reacts to Pal Al Pacino and Girlfriend Noor Alfallah's Baby News
Recommendation
Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
That ’70s Show Alum Danny Masterson Found Guilty of Rape
Biden’s Appointment of John Kerry as Climate Envoy Sends a ‘Signal to the World,’ Advocates Say
National Governments Are Failing on Clean Energy in All but 3 Areas, IEA says
Who's hosting 'Saturday Night Live' tonight? Musical guest, how to watch Dec. 14 episode
Supercritical CO2: The Most Important Climate Solution You’ve Never Heard Of
US Declares Greenhouse Gases a Danger to Public Health and Welfare
States Begged EPA to Stop Cross-State Coal Plant Pollution. Wheeler Just Refused.