Sam Levine
Lawyers for Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman are just starting on their first witness of the day, Ashlee Humphreys, a professor at Northwestern University.
Humphreys is an expert witness who studies social media and is expected to testify about how she calculated the damages Moss and Freeman are entitled to.
Just as they have been all week, Moss, Freeman, and Giuliani are in the courtroom. Moss and Freeman are sitting next to each other at a table with their lawyers. Freeman’s back is to Giuliani, who is sitting at a table parallel to them with his lawyer.
Ruby Freeman is expected to testify later today.
During his America’s Mayor Live show on Tuesday, Rudy Giuliani commented on his ongoing defamation trial and continued his attacks against Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman, saying:
“They’re seeking $40m. Oh yeah. They’re seeking $40m for the damage that I allegedly did to them. One of them did testify that she has no money, they do have an endless number of lawyers in the courtroom however for people that don’t have any money…
One of the clients said that she’s having a hard time making ends meet. That’s a lot of lawyers to be paying.”
During Tuesday’s testimony, Giuliani’s lawyer, Joseph Sibley, asked Moss why it would cost her millions to repair her reputation which has been damaged as a result of Giuliani’s lies.
Moss, who has since suffered from anxiety and depression, as well as difficulty seeking employment, replied:
“I personally cannot repair my reputation at the moment because your client is still lying on me and ruining my reputation further… We need to make a statement. We need to ensure that the election workers that are still there don’t have to go through this. Hopefully by hitting someone in their pockets, for someone whose whole career has been about their pockets, we will send a message.”
In an emotional testimony yesterday, former election worker Shaye Moss explained the ways that Rudy Giuliani’s lies have affected her life, saying, “Most days I pray that God does not wake me up and I just disappear.”
Here is more on Moss’s testimony from the Guardian’s Sam Levine, who will be reporting again from the courthouse today:
For more than two hours on Tuesday, Moss – a former Atlanta election worker – gave haunting testimony explaining how her world was upended after the fateful day when she became aware Rudy Giuliani was falsely accusing her of fraudulently counting mail-in ballots.
“Most days I pray that God does not wake me up and I just disappear,” she said.
Dressed in a black blazer with sparkling, long acrylic nails, Moss’s hand shook as she was sworn in as a witness. She described how she fears her son will come home from school and find her and her grandmother hanging from a tree in their yard. How she pushed everyone close to her away because she didn’t want them to suffer any reputational harm. How she gets anxiety attacks. How she sometimes will have to pull over because she thinks someone is following her.
She also recounted how she became a “pariah” in the elections office and left the job she loved, having worked her way out of the mailroom. How she felt like “the worst mom in the world” when her son failed all of his classes in ninth grade after he started getting harassing messages.
For the full story, click here:
Sam Levine
I’m here at the federal courthouse in Washington where the third day of a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani is set to enter its third day.
This morning we are set to hear deposition testimony from a poll watcher who was at the State Farm arena in November 2020.
Yesterday’s testimony was harrowing. We heard from Shaye Moss, one of the plaintiffs in the case who described how Giuliani’s lies had ruined her life.
The federal trial of Rudy Giuliani, the former lawyer of ex-president Donald Trump and former New York mayor, is set to continue today in Washington DC.
Giuliani is at the center of a defamation case involving Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, both of whom served as election workers in Georgia’s Fulton county after the 2020 presidential election.
Both women are seeking up to $43m in compensatory and punitive damages after Giuliani made false statements about them following the election, including accusing them of fraudulently counting mail-in ballots.
On Monday, Giuliani’s lawyer told the court that awarding millions of dollars in damages would be like the “death penalty” for his client, adding that “it will be the end of Mr. Giuliani.”
Meanwhile, during a tearful testimony on Tuesday, Moss said that Giuliani’s lies about her turned her life “upside down” and detailed her anxiety and depression that followed from Giuliani’s lies.
Freeman is expected to testify today.
Here are other developments in US politics:
-
House Republicans are set to vote today to formalize their impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden.
-
Hunter Biden is set to appear before the House Oversight Committee for a closed-door interview at 9:30am ET, Politico reports.
-
Kamala Harris is launching the Biden administration’s Safer States Initiative to provide states with additional tools to reduce gun violence.
