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WASHINGTON — A federal judge will hear arguments Friday in Rudy Giuliani’s second contempt of court hearing this week in the defamation case against him involving former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.
Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell will hear arguments about whether the former New York City mayor and lawyer for Donald Trump should be sanctioned with financial penalties for continuing to defame Freeman and Moss on his streaming show despite a court-ordered agreement that said he wouldn’t.
Giuliani has said that his comments on his show weren’t defamatory and that it “is my First Amendment right to talk about the case and my defense.”
Freeman and Moss had sued Giuliani over his claims about them as he tried to help Trump, who was then president, overturn the 2020 election results. Howell found Giuliani liable in 2023 for defaming Freeman and Moss after he ignored court orders to hand over evidence.
A jury awarded them $148 million in damages, which the judge reduced to $146 million. Giuliani is appealing the verdict.
Earlier this week, a federal judge in New York found Giuliani to be in contempt of court for failing to comply with orders to turn over information about his assets to Freeman and Moss.
Giuliani had testified over two days about why he hadn’t yet handed over assets and court-ordered discovery information as part of the $146 million judgment.
One valuable asset he failed to turn over included a New York Yankees jersey autographed by Hall of Fame outfielder Joe DiMaggio, but Giuliani said last week that it was “missing.”
“I don’t know where it is, and it is hard to re-create who took it, and I am personally conducting my own investigation about this,” he said.
Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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