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Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters after Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump spoke at a primary election night party in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Dramatic antagonism preceded Rudy Giuliani’s contempt hearing in Washington, D.C., and continued well into the proceedings on Friday. By the end of the day, the contempt finding was clear and the sanctions were severe.
That hearing, the latest knock-on effect of repeatedly spreading lies about now-former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, was slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. EST. But the parties had to wait a while for court to start.
In response to the long wait, Giuliani’s spokesperson, Ted Goodman, criticized the delay on X (formerly Twitter).
“U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell-who has faced judicial misconduct complaints over her unjust prosecution of hundreds of Americans in relation to the Democrat Party’s January 6th Hoax-is forcing Mayor Giuliani to wait around for hours in relation to a contempt hearing,” the since-deleted post began.
Giuliani, for his part, retweeted Goodman’s post, according to a screenshot captured before deletion by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney.
The former New York City mayor also reportedly referred to the judge overseeing the matter as “bloodthirsty” — before the hearing began.
Howell, for her part, reportedly gave a clear indication of where the court was heading, saying at the outset she had hoped the defendant would “stop saying such fabricated lies. Especially publicly,” according to a courtroom report by Washington, D.C.-based CBS affiliate WUSA reporter Jordan Fischer.
The underlying case differs from, but is closely related to, the original $148 million defamation verdict Freeman and Moss won against Giuliani for spreading lies about them after the 2020 election.
That blockbuster victory — currently the subject of intense litigation and a contempt finding by a federal judge in New York state — came in early December 2023. But, the former Georgia election workers say, Giuliani continued to peddle false comments and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election that referenced their work in Atlanta.
In late December 2023, the pair asked the court that oversaw the original case to issue an injunction to “permanently” bar Giuliani from defaming them. They accuse him of continuing to lob unsubstantiated falsehoods and peddle pro-Donald Trump conspiracy theories about never-proven electoral fraud even after being found liable for the same. The latest defamation accusations were leveled against the former federal prosecutor in a motion filed early Friday morning.
During the hearing, Giuliani’s counsel effectively made it clear that the campaign against Freeman and Moss would continue, according to the court’s estimation and the defense’s own oral arguments.
Defense attorney Eden Quainton attempted to contest the basic finding of defamation by arguing Giuliani truly believed the things he said about Freeman and Moss, according to Fischer’s reporting.
The judge quickly shut down that line of argument.
Giuliani’s attorney, Eden Quainton, gets up and starts trying to relitigate the defamation question by arguing Giuliani genuinely believes what he’s saying.
Judge Howell: We’re not doing that today.
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) January 10, 2025
The defense attorney, however, reportedly continued to try and make the case that a good faith belief in the lies Giuiani spread about Freeman and Moss with regard to the 2020 election should, in some way, mitigate his alleged violation of the consent injunction.
“I’m going to move on,” Howell intoned, according to Fischer’s reporting. “This is really just a waste of time.”
In a previous court filing, Giuliani’s defense argued the alleged violations were “if anything … de minimis,” a bit of legalese that might be translated into the idiom of making a mountain out of a molehill.
The plaintiffs’ Friday morning filing, on the other hand, contained transcripts from two November 2024 episodes of the defendant’s podcast. In those transcripts, Giuliani appeared to reference Freeman and Moss and accused them of untoward vote-counting practices.
On Friday afternoon, Quainton reportedly argued his client showed “a lot of self-discipline” by not violating the injunction until November.
After a brief recess, the judge summarized what she understood the attorney representing the onetime U.S. Attorney to be saying.
“So what you’re saying is that this defamation is never going to stop,” Howell reportedly said, according to Fischer’s reporting. “He believed it in 2020 when he made the original statements. He believed it all throughout the trial. He believes it today. That’s chilling.”
As the trial progressed, the plaintiffs zeroed in on their requested sanction should Giuliani be held in contempt: a fine of $20,000 per additional violation of the consent injunction.
With that requested remedy in hand, the court and the parties then moved on to discussing the economic status of the defendant.
Eventually, Giuliani himself briefly took the stand to discuss his assets — confirming that he owns a $3.5 million condominium in Florida and retirement accounts worth in excess of $1 million.
As the proceedings drew to a close, the foregone conclusion was formally delivered.
“The court holds that the defendant, Mr. Giuliani, violated the final injunction and the consent agreement and he therefore is in contempt of this court,” Howell reportedly said. “The court finds with clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Giuliani violated this injunction in at least six ways.”
Judge Howell points out Giuliani has complained specifically about the injunction (which he agreed to) being unfair on his podcast. She calls it “baseless whining.”
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) January 10, 2025
In a pointed response to the defendant’s complaints about the injunction itself, the judge even went so far to accused Giuliani of “baseless whining.”
“It is outrageous and shameful that Mr. Giuliani dares to suggest that he is the one being treated unfairly when he heard the evidence at trial,” the judge reportedly continued. “This takes real chutzpah, Mr. Giuliani.”
The court ultimately issued an order directing Giuliani to file a sworn declaration within 10 days wherein he will attest and affirm he had the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses during depositions and at trial, and that Freeman and Moss have been fully vindicated by all court proceedings and government inquiries.
Howell further ordered that Giuliani face fines of $200 per day for failing to abide by the order — and potentially jail time.