A federal judge admonished Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday for saying he planned to testify that false voting fraud allegations he made against two former, Fulton County election workers are true, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.
U.S. District Judge Beryll Howell already ruled that the former New York mayor's claims against Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are false and found him liable for defamation last summer. But after the first day of a trial determining what Giuliani would pay in damages, he repeated unsubstantiated claims of a stolen election to reporters outside the courthouse and told them he planned to testify that they were true.
Attorneys for Freeman and Moss asked the judge to bar Giuliani from making those statements in court, and on Tuesday, Howell noted that Giuliani had already agreed in court that his allegations were false. Howell also directed his attorney, Joseph Sibley, to urge Giuliani against testifying unless he wishes to face further liability and sanctions.
“Given all the Georgia official investigations showing those were false statements, at worst he’s perjuring himself to play to some other audience, the audience for his social media outlets,” Howell said. The judge further pressed Sibley to explain Giuliani's change in opinion, asking if he was just playing for the media in his remarks. Sibley responded that he was unsure, but speculated the case has taken a toll on the almost 80-year-old attorney.
Tuesday's exchange came during the trial for Freeman and Moss' defamation lawsuit against Giuliani, a former personal lawyer for Donald Trump. The election workers testified on Tuesday that they endured death threats and harassment as a result of Giuliani, Trump and others accusing them of double-counting ballots in the 2020 election among other illegal acts, allegations investigators with the FBI, GBI and the secretary of state debunked.
