Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday conceded the statements he made about two Georgia election workers who were forced from their home by death threats from the former president's supporters were false.
Giuliani in a two-page late-night court filing said he "does not contest" that his statements about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were "false" and "carry meaning that is defamatory."
The statement conceded that his statements meet the "factual elements of liability" for Moss and Freeman's claims that his comments amounted to "intentional infliction of emotional distress."
But Giuliani is not giving up in the defamation lawsuit from the two election workers, his adviser Ted Goodman told Politico, arguing that it was just a way to move past the fact-gathering stage of the lawsuit and into the legal phase, where he can try to dismiss the suit.
"Mayor Rudy Giuliani did not acknowledge that the statements were false but did not contest it in order to move on to the portion of the case that will permit a motion to dismiss," Goodman said. "This is a legal issue, not a factual issue. Those out to smear the mayor are ignoring the fact that this stipulation is designed to get to the legal issues of the case."
But the report noted that it is a "significant acknowledgment" from the former president's lawyer, who spent months claiming that Moss and Freeman were seen on video improperly pulling ballots from a suitcase and claiming it was proof of Trump's widely debunked election fraud conspiracy theories.
Moss and Freeman testified to the House Jan. 6 committee that they faced numerous threats and were forced to flee their home.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who is overseeing the case, threatened to impose sanctions on Giuliani over claims that he failed to preserve key evidence in the case. Giuliani's filing on Tuesday came in response to an order from Howell demanding an explanation for why he failed to produce certain evidence and why she shouldn't rule in the plaintiffs' favor.
Giuliani attorney Joseph Sibley emphasized in an accompanying filing that Giuliani was not "admitting" to the allegations but would stop contesting them, which he said should end further efforts to obtain additional factual evidence, including emails, texts and other communications, according to Politico.
Giuliani in his statement maintained that his comments about Moss and Freeman were "constitutionally protected statements or opinions" but by admitting to the facts, he says further efforts to obtain factual evidence are unnecessary.
Giuliani in his statement disputed that he mishandled or destroyed the evidence sought by the plaintiffs, citing a statement from his attorney Robert Costello blaming the Justice Department for seizing his devices in 2021, which he claimed were returned with corrupted data.
Legal experts expressed doubt that Giuliani's move would work.
Former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Wednesday it was "remarkable" to see someone in a defamation lawsuit "admit 'yes, what I said was false.'"
Honig called the attacks Freeman and Moss "one of the most despicable, over-the-top lies" pushed by the former New York City mayor.
"What he seems to be trying to do is limit this question to, 'Was it constitutionally protected speech?' You have a lot of range when it comes to First Amendment political speech, but I cannot conceive how you justify attacking innocent civilian poll workers falsely like this," Honig said.
"This is a sort of desperate, last-second gasp to try to limit his liability here," he added. "It's really an astonishing concession."
National security attorney Bradley Moss also predicted the move would fail.
"This is horribly written, contradicts itself and will not suffice," he tweeted.
"The real question in this case was always about what level of fault attaches," explained Georgia State University Law Prof. Anthony Michael Kreis, "but even then, it's hard to see how Giuliani and the entire Trump team showed any more care than a reckless disregard for the truth."
