Court Finds Giuliani Guilty of Defamation

Rudy Giuliani was found liable on Wednesday by a federal judge for defaming a mother and daughter who served as Georgia election workers during the 2020 presidential contest, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC).

Giuliani, 79, will face a civil trial in Washington federal court to determine how much he will have to pay. I Photo: Gage Skidmore

Judge Beryl Howell issued the order as a sanction against Giuliani for failing to turn over electronic records sought by the two election workers, Wandrea (Shaye) Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, in the case.

The judge's order means Giuliani will have to pay damages for spreading false vote-rigging claims against the pair while he was acting as former US president Donald Trump's lawyer.

Giuliani previously admitted in a court filing that his statements were false and defamatory but claimed he was protected in making them by the First Amendment.

"Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law, this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straightforward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention," Howell wrote.

Giuliani, 79, will face a civil trial in Washington federal court to determine how much he will have to pay. He has already been ordered to pay just over $130,000 (about C$175,000) in sanctions related to failures to hand over documents to the court in the case.

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