A damages trial begins Monday in a case in which a judge has already ruled that Rudy Giuliani is liable for defamation.

When Rudy Giuliani steps into federal court on Monday, the only mystery will be how severely he is sanctioned for lies about the 2020 election.

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell has already found him liable for defaming two Georgia election workers — Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss — who faced threats and harassment after Giuliani and Donald Trump falsely accused them of manipulating ballots after the 2020 election. Those lies fueled conspiracy theories that have festered to this day.

Now, a jury in Washington, D.C., will be asked to determine the amount of damages Giuliani must pay for defamation, infliction of emotional distress and other punitive costs. Freeman and Moss haven’t specified a precise amount but are instead preparing to introduce expert testimony to estimate the harm they have experienced.

  • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Happening to be in the right place at the wrong time and exploiting a tragedy for his own benefit was Rudy’s political bread and butter. 9/11 was a mother load of goodwill for him.

    Then he decided to work for Trump, and now he’s a bankrupt pariah who will forever be remembered as the guy who was melting on camera in a landscaping company’s parking lot 100ft from a dildo store.

    • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Exactly. His great reputation after 9/11 wasn’t earned, but he could have coasted for the rest of his life as “America’s Mayor” talking about how great he was during 9/11. People who looked into the details would have known better, but 90% of the public would have thought him a hero.

      But then he needed to go all in on Trump and Trump’s attempt to overthrow the election. Now, even if people don’t know how he wasn’t really “America’s Mayor” on 9/11, they know him as the hair dye leaking incompetent conspiracy theorist of a lawyer for Trump who tried and failed to overturn the election.

      Rudy Giuliani is a neverending source of schadenfreude.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      It’s my hope, that things get so much worse for him that he ends up remembering Four Seasons as a good day.