That $148M Giuliani Defamation Verdict Is Very Bad News For Trump
Critics of Rudy Giuliani were cheering when, on Friday, December 15, a jury awarded former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss $148 million in damages in their defamation lawsuit against the former New York City mayor.
In late 2020 and early 2020, Giuliani and then-President Donald Trump falsely accused Freeman and her daughter Moss of helping now-President Joe Biden steal the 2020 presidential election. Freeman and Moss, who are Black, were inundated with death threats from Trump supporters — some of them quite racist — following their false accusations.
During the civil trial, Freeman and Moss made it clear that they feared for their safety — and blamed Giuliani for the hell they have been through.
Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results are the focus of two of the four criminal indictments he is facing — one a federal case being prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, the other a State of Georgia indictment being prosecuted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. According to Newsweek's Sean O'Driscoll, Freeman and Moss "will likely be called as witnesses" in Smith's case — especially in light of the outcome of their defamation case against Giuliani.
O'Driscoll reports, "The prosecutors in Trump's election fraud case signaled on December 5 that they intended to introduce evidence about election workers Ruby Freeman and Sheye Moss…. The inclusion of Freeman and Moss could bolster the Georgia section of Smith's case against Trump, which includes evidence from seven states where Trump was alleged to have illegally interfered in the 2020 presidential election."
In response to the $148 million in damages the jury has awarded Freeman and Moss, Ryan Goodman — a New York University law professor and former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel — tweeted, "Make no mistake. This huge verdict for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss is a sign of how things will go for Trump before a jury — when these two American heroes are likely to be prosecution witnesses for Jack Smith and the Department of Justice."
Reprinted with permission from Alternet.