A Washington, D.C., jury awarded $148 million in damages Friday to two former Georgia election workers who sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation. The judge had already ruled that Giuliani had defamed former election workers Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, so the role of the jury was limited to deciding the amount of damages.
In their lawsuit, the two women say that the former New York City mayor defamed them by falsely accusing them of engaging in fraud while counting ballots in Atlanta during the 2020 presidential election. They also say that their lives were upended by the harassment they endured as a result of the allegations. “Money will never solve all my problems,” Freeman told reporters outside the courtroom after the award was announced. “I can never move back into the house that I call home. I will always have to be careful about where I go and who I choose to share my name with. I miss my home. I miss my neighbors and I miss my name.”
Giuliani vowed to appeal, telling the media that the “absurdity of the number merely underscores the absurdity of the entire proceeding.” He also predicted, “It will be reversed so quickly it will make your head spin, and the absurd number that just came in will help that actually.”
