Tag: rudy giuliani
Rudy Giuliani

Doubling Down On Defamation Of Election Workers, Giuliani Faces Judicial Wrath

US District Judge Beryl Howell is now suggesting that former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani could be on the hook for additional legal consequences after his continued attacks on two Georgia election workers.

Politico reported Tuesday that following his latest court appearance in US District Court in Washington, DC, Giuliani drew the ire of Judge Howell after once again leveling attacks on election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss on Monday night. Howell wondered if the former New York mayor was "just playing for the cameras" following his attorney Joe Sibley's apologetic statements on his client's behalf. Sibley had tried to minimize damage to Giuliani, saying that both Freeman and Moss were "good people" who didn't deserve the threats that came their way after his client falsely accused them of forging ballots.

"Of course I don't regret it," Giuliani said of his previous unfounded accusations in which he accused Freeman and Moss of manipulating ballots in Georgia during the 2020 election. "They were engaging in changing votes."

Judge Howell has already found Giuliani guilty of defaming Freeman and Moss, and the ongoing proceedings are merely for the jury to determine how much in financial damages the former Trump attorney should be required to pay. The 80-year-old ex-mayor's latest comments — which Giuliani said he would expand upon when he takes the stand — left even his lawyer dumbfounded, with Sibley saying he's "not sure how it’s reconcilable" when Howell asked how he would account for his client's actions.

"This has taken a bit of a toll on him. He’s almost 80 years old," Sibley said, trying to explain that Giuliani's latest attacks on Freeman and Moss were due to his advanced age. "There are health concerns for Mr. Giuliani."

Both Freeman and Moss are seeking between $15 million and $43 million in damages as a result of Giuliani's defamatory remarks. Their attorney, Michael J. Gottlieb, said that his clients were forced to move out of their homes as a result of Giuliani's "campaign of defamation and emotional terror" against them. Many of the thousands of threats against Freeman and Moss — who are Black — were racist in nature and called for them to be lynched. Sibley countered that if his client were made the pay the full amount it would be the equivalent of the death penalty, saying "it would be the end of Mr. Giuliani."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Kenneth Chesebro

Trump Lawyer Chesebro Aiding Prosecutors In Two 'Fake Elector' Probes

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who has already pleaded guilty to election interference in Georgia, is now aiding prosecutors who are pursuing charges against "fake electors" in two new states in an attempt to avoid additional criminal charges.

According to CNN, Chesebro — who was one of the architects of the "fake elector" scheme that attempted to overturn the 2020 election in multiple swing states — is now assisting state attorneys general in both Michigan and Wisconsin's fake elector investigations. Confirmation from CNN's sources about Chesebro's cooperation comes even before Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) has publicly announced the investigation. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), for her part, has confirmed that an investigation is underway and still ongoing.


The news about Chesebro's cooperation in Michigan and Wisconsin comes after his cooperation with other state attorneys general in Arizona and Nevada. While details of his cooperation have not yet been released, it could resemble his plea deal in Georgia, where Chesebro has agreed to provide Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with testimony in her prosecutions of former President Donald Trump, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Jeffrey Clark, among others.

Scott Grubmann, an attorney representing Chesebro, said his client personally "never believed" that Donald Trump won the 2020 election despite his role in concocting the fake elector plot.

"If you ask Mr. Chesebro today who won the 2020 presidential election, he would say Joe Biden," Grubmann said.

The "fake elector" scheme involved Republican activists in various swing states presenting themselves as members of the electoral college in states President Joe Biden won in 2020, in an attempt to instead deliver their respective states' electoral college votes to Trump. Chesebro admitted the fake elector gambit was legally dubious and would likely not pass muster in the Supreme Court.

Chesebro initially rejected a plea offer in Georgia, though he pivoted in late October after fellow Trump attorney Sidney Powell inked her own plea deal.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

"Before The Next Teardrop Falls": Jenna Ellis Makes Courtroom Confession

"Before The Next Teardrop Falls": Jenna Ellis Makes Courtroom Confession

Jenna Ellis, the lawyer who in 2020 described herself as part of Donald Trump’s “elite strike force team,” has reached a plea deal with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia and will plead guilty to a felony she committed when she worked to help Trump overturn the election results in Georgia. She was charged with soliciting a public officer to violate his oath to the people of Georgia. She pleaded guilty to a single felony count of aiding and abetting false writings and statements.

Ellis is the third Trump lawyer to plead guilty to committing crimes in the racketeering case against Trump and 18 other co-defendants. The other lawyers are Sidney Powell, who pleaded guilty last Thursday, and Kenneth Chesebro, who entered a plea of guilty the following day, on the morning his trial was set to begin. Another co-defendant, Scott Hall, pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to interfere in the performance of official election duties in the Coffee County theft of election data.

In her guilty plea, Ellis agreed to complete three to five years of probation, to pay a $5,000 fine, to do100 hours of community service, and to write a letter of apology to the people of the state of Georgia. Ellis tearfully read her letter of apology aloud to the judge this morning, beginning by introducing herself “as an attorney who is also a Christian, I take my responsibilities as a lawyer very seriously, and I endeavor to be a person of sound moral and ethical character in all of my dealings.”

Except when it came to helping her hero Donald Trump steal the election of 2020 , apparently.

Previously, like Powell and Chesebro before her, Ellis recorded on video a lengthy “proffer,” giving prosecutors details of the facts she will be able to testify to when she is called to give evidence against her co-defendants, including Trump.

Prosecutors read aloud the indictment against Ellis, including portions that detailed how she wrote memos for Trump about how Vice President Pence could go about overturning the election results on January 6, 2021, when he presided over the certification of electoral ballots in the Congress. The indictment also outlined how she had traveled with fellow Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia, where she gave false information about the election to state lawmakers, urging them to use their powers to overturn the election results in their states in favor of Trump. Ellis has already been sanctioned by a Colorado judge for the false statements she made about the election, and in court today, she admitted to making more false statements on behalf of Trump.

She claimed she made the statements “in a reckless state of mind,” and in her apology stated that she had “relied on lawyers with many more years of experience than I to provide me with true and reliable information.” She went on to say that she had failed to do “due diligence” and check her facts. In other words, as a “Christian” lawyer, Jenna Ellis blamed her failures on other lawyers, said she had been “misled” by them, and said she no longer believed the lies she told about Trump being the winner of the 2020 election. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” Ellis said in her apology letter.

One lawyer who would seem to have “misled” Ellis is Rudy Giuliani. Another would seem to be John Eastman, and yet another may be Jeffrey Clark. None of these men will probably be sleeping very comfortably tonight, thinking of the testimony she is set to give against them, not to mention Donald Trump, the client on whose behalf she, Powell, and Chesebro told all their lies.

Donald Trump’s friends, lawyers, campaign workers, and go-fers are discovering, one after another, that their loyalty to the former president ends at the jailhouse door.

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has covered Watergate, the Stonewall riots, and wars in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels. You can subscribe to his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.

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