U.S.
Giuliani says he will stop accusing Georgia workers of election tampering
The Washington Post May 22, 2024
Rudy Giuliani has agreed to no longer accuse two Georgia poll workers of tampering with the 2020 election, according to a draft agreement filed Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court.
The agreement bars Giuliani — who has amplified election falsehoods for years as a staunch ally of former president Donald Trump — from publishing or helping to publish false statements that the two workers “engaged in wrongdoing” related to the 2020 election.
A draft of the agreement filed Tuesday said Giuliani was permanently prohibited “from publishing, causing others to publish, and/or assisting in others’ publication of … any statements that suggest that Plaintiffs, whether mentioned directly, indirectly, or by implication, engaged in wrongdoing in connection with the 2020 presidential election.”
Joe Biden defeated Trump in Georgia, a linchpin for his victory that year. The false accusations against election workers were part of an aggressive pressure campaign by Trump and his allies to cast doubt on the validity of results in the state.
The two Fulton County, Ga., election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, sued Giuliani for defamation, saying they faced abuse and emotional distress after he promoted election falsehoods in Georgia.
In the weeks following the 2020 election, Giuliani repeatedly claimed that Freeman and Moss had brought in “suitcases” full of fake votes for Biden — accusations that were debunked after an investigation by Georgia’s secretary of state. Giuliani also baselessly claimed that the two “deliberately threw people out and counted the ballots in private” and counted ballots multiple times.
During the trial, Moss testified how her life was turned upside down the day after Giuliani first made the accusations. She began to suffer panic attacks and was eventually diagnosed with acute stress and major depressive disorder. In April 2022, she ultimately quit her $39,000-a-year position with the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections.
A federal jury in December ordered Giuliani, a former attorney to Trump, to pay $148 million to Freeman and Moss for falsely accusing them of election fraud.
The next day, Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York, listing up to $500 million in debts. He continued, however, to rant against the trial and the ruling, describing the judge as “hopelessly biased.”
“The amount, $148 million, is so irrational it tells you the trial was irrational because the result is the result of a completely unfair trial,” he added.
Freeman and Moss sued him again in December after he continued to spread falsehoods about them. At the time, their attorney Michael Gottlieb asked Giuliani’s trial judge to let Freeman and Moss immediately pursue the $148 million judgment, citing the risk that Giuliani would empty out his savings before any money could be recovered.
On Tuesday, Gottlieb said the plaintiffs were “pleased” with the agreement. “Today ends [Giuliani’s] efforts to profit off lies about these two heroes of American democracy,” Gottlieb said in a statement.
Gottlieb told The Washington Post, “If the court grants the permanent injunction as we have requested, then the second lawsuit would be over, because that is all we asked for in that lawsuit.”
Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman said the former New York mayor has agreed not to comment on the election service of Freeman and Moss, “based on advice from his lawyers.”
“He will continue to comment on everything else surrounding the 2020 election,” Goodman said in a statement Tuesday.
Giuliani was fired from a New York talk radio station this month for continuing to spread falsehoods about the 2020 election.
He also appeared in court on Tuesday in Arizona, where he pleaded not guilty to felony charges that he and other Republicans are facing related to their alleged efforts to subvert Biden’s 2020 victory in the state.`