Rudy Giuliani held in contempt for second time this week

A federal judge has held Rudy Giuliani in contempt for continuing to falsely accuse two Georgia women of election fraud in 2020, breaching a court order against further attacking them after the pair won a $148 million defamation suit against him.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell lit into a visibly frustrated Giuliani — seated in her Washington courtroom — saying she had hoped the voluminous evidence that his attacks on Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were false would have caused him to “stop saying such fabricated lies.”

Moss and Freeman urged Howell to hold Giuliani in contempt after discovering comments he made about them — echoing similar claims at the heart of their original defamation lawsuit — on his podcast in November.

On Friday, Howell agreed, and she ruled that Giuliani must within 10 days sign a declaration swearing that he has reviewed all the evidence and sworn testimony refuting his claims about Moss and Freeman, acknowledging that no sworn testimony or government review has contradicted that evidence and affirming that he had a full opportunity to cross examine all witnesses in their lawsuit. Howell said that if Giuliani doesn’t file this declaration within 10 days, she will begin fining him $200 a day.

Howell opted against putting Giuliani in jail, calling that the most serious option in her quiver, but emphasized that if he continues to violate her orders and fails to pay his fines that would likely be the next punishment.

“I am very concerned based on the statements made during this hearing that Mr. Giuliani may not be persuaded to stop making statements that violate the consent judgment in this case without even more severe sanctions in this case,” Howell said.

It’s the second time this week Giuliani has been held in contempt. Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman entered the contempt order against Giuliani after finding he had failed to adequately respond to Moss and Freeman’s efforts to obtain information related to their efforts to collect the massive defamation judgment.

The string of courtroom humiliations for the once vaunted figure in American politics stems from his efforts to aid Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election. Amid increasingly frantic efforts to sow doubts about the result, Giuliani seized on video footage from a ballot counting site in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, which he claimed showed Moss and Freeman manipulating or double-counting ballots. Trump would later echo those claims, and the intense backlash forced the women into hiding amid a torrent of threats.

Ultimately, numerous investigations and extensive sworn testimony refuted the fraud claims. Moss and Freeman sued Giuliani and ultimately won a 2023 civil jury trial in Howell’s court, resulting in the massive payout.

In recent months, Giuliani was permanently disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., and he faces criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona related to his role in Trump’s 2020 effort.

And it isn’t over yet. Next week, Giuliani is slated to sit for a brief civil trial to contest Moss and Freeman’s effort to obtain three of his New York Yankees World Series rings as part of their defamation judgment.

Friday’s contempt order was the result of a second lawsuit brought by Moss and Freeman soon after they won their $148 million judgment against Giuliani. Shortly after the trial, Moss and Freeman said Giuliani had made new public statements defaming them. As a result of the new suit, Giuliani voluntarily entered an agreement promising to make no new defamatory comments about the women.

Giuliani has grown increasingly hostile to the judges overseeing his cases, attacking them openly on X and in public statements. On Friday, he attacked Howell even while sitting in her courtroom, blaming her for making him wait for hours before beginning the contempt proceedings and describing her as a “bloodthirsty” pursuer of Jan. 6 defendants who has a “pathological hatred of all things Trump.”

“It is outrageous and shameful that Mr. Giuliani suggests that he is the one being treated unfairly,” Howell said as she read her ruling, noting that Freeman and Moss faced death threats and lost jobs. “This takes real chutzpah, Mr. Giuliani.”

A spokesperson for Giuliani said in a statement that the former mayor “never had the opportunity to defend himself on the facts in the defamation case” — a claim Howell sought to preempt by ordering Giuliani to sign the declaration.

“This contempt ruling is designed to prevent Mayor Giuliani from exercising his constitutional rights,” said the spokesperson, Ted Goodman.