A federal judge in Manhattan is indicating that Rudy Giuliani's upcoming contempt hearing may not bode well for the former New York City mayor and ex-personal lawyer for President Donald Trump. The hearing, scheduled for next Friday, comes as two Georgia election poll workers seek to collect a $148 million defamation award they won against Giuliani.
Judge Lewis J. Liman issued an order on Friday expressing skepticism towards Giuliani's attempts to avoid providing information to the election workers' lawyers. The judge warned that Giuliani and his legal team should be prepared to justify why he should not grant a request to make adverse inferences from evidence in the case, potentially putting Giuliani's Palm Beach, Florida, condominium at risk of being surrendered to satisfy the defamation award.
Giuliani has argued that his Palm Beach property is his current personal residence and should be protected from the judgment. However, he faces a trial on January 16 regarding the fate of his Florida residence and World Series rings.
The contempt request was filed by the election workers' lawyers after Giuliani allegedly failed to hand over various items, including a lease to his Manhattan apartment, a Mercedes, watches, jewelry, a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt, and other baseball memorabilia. The judge had previously ordered Giuliani to surrender these items in October.
Giuliani's legal team remains confident that he will ultimately regain possession of the items through the appeals process. A lawyer for Giuliani was expected to be deposed on Friday but did not provide a comment when reached for response.
The upcoming contempt hearing follows a contentious November session where Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, clashed with the judge and accused him of unfair treatment. Last year, Giuliani was found liable for defaming the two Georgia poll workers by falsely accusing them of ballot tampering during the 2020 presidential election. The women reported receiving death threats following Giuliani's baseless claims.
