Georgia election workers defamed by Rudy Giuliani ask judge to hold him in contempt in new legal threat

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — Two Georgia election workers who won a massive verdict against Rudy Giuliani because he defamed them after the 2020 election are asking a federal judge to hold him in contempt of court.

Their request on Wednesday morning opens up a new avenue of difficulty in court that the former Donald Trump attorney now must face, as the fallout continues for him because of his efforts to spread election fraud myths.

The pair, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, say Trump continues to repeat harmful lies about them on his nightly broadcast, in defiance of court orders.

“In his latest act of defiance of court orders, and continued defamation of Plaintiffs, Defendant Rudolph W. Giuliani has clearly violated a permanent injunction — an injunction to which he consented to less than one year ago — prohibiting him from repeating his false and defamatory lies about Plaintiffs. Accordingly, the Court should hold him in contempt and enter civil contempt sanctions,” Freeman and Moss’ lawyers wrote to Judge Beryl Howell in the DC District Court.

The judge has not yet responded, and any penalties would be up to her.

Moss and Freeman’s attorneys pointed to two broadcasts of Giuliani’s show, where he said people were quadruple counting ballots and passing hard drives to rig vote-counting machines. Those insinuations are false, and there was no conspiracy to change votes against Trump in Georgia in 2020, a state where he closely lost the election.

“These statements repeat the exact same lies for which Mr. Giuliani has already been held liable, and which he agreed to be bound by court order to stop repeating. They constitute unambiguous violations of the Consent Injunction,” Freeman and Moss’ lawyers wrote.

Giuliani on his November 12 broadcast, acknowledged he could face more consequences in court for his statements that day.

“I’m sorry they’re going to sue me again for saying it but what am I going to do but tell the truth,” he said.

An attorney for Giuliani, Joseph R. Cammarata, also held a press conference on Wednesday morning in front of the Manhattan law office of Moss and Freeman’s attorneys.

“They are doing everything they can to stop me and Giuliani from having a formidable defense. We’re not going to allow. That’s not going to take place in the United States. That’s not who we are,” Cammarata said.

Howell on Wednesday afternoon gave Giuliani until December 2 to respond to the request to hold him in contempt and asked him to describe “the recommended appropriate sanction to coerce” his compliance now with the settlement he agreed to six months ago.

She set a hearing for December 12, saying Giuliani must appear in her courtroom in person in Washington, DC.

Howell presided over the trial where a jury found Giuliani defamed Freeman and Moss so severely that he should pay them $150 million. She previously signed off on a settlement to bar Giuliani from continuing to repeat lies about votes being stolen during the vote count in Georgia in 2020, and from speaking about Moss and Freeman, which he was doing even during the course of the trial a year ago.

In that settlement, which came soon after the jury verdict, Giuliani agreed he could be held in contempt of court if he publicly suggested again they stole votes.

The settlement agreement said Giuliani would be “permanently enjoined from publishing, causing others to publish, and/or assisting in others’ publication of any statements that suggest that Plaintiffs, whether mentioned directly, indirectly, or by implication, engaged in wrongdoing in connection with the 2020 presidential election.”

In the year since, the women, a mother and daughter, have collected some of Giuliani’s luxury possessions like a classic convertible and watches to make good on that debt, and are still working to take control of his real estate assets and Yankees World Series rings.

Giuliani is losing his $6 million New York apartment to the two women, but is arguing to keep the $3.5 million Florida condo where he is currently staying, and the championship rings, worth potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively.

He has already lost his law license because of his work for the Trump campaign in 2020, which included his efforts in Georgia.

CNN’s Max Rego and Emily Condon contributed to this report.

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