A jury in Washington, D.C. has awarded $148 million to the two Black women election workers defamed by Rudy Giuliani. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss of Georgia will receive $40 million for emotional distress ($20 million each), $33 million for defamation (around $16 million each) and $75 million in punitive damages.
Can you say Karma!
Originally, Michael Gottlieb—one of the lawyers representing the mother-daughter pair, had requested $48 million in damages for the women equaling $24 million per person.
Earlier this week, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss testified about the trauma and harassment they endured after Rudy Giuliani falsely claimed they participated in ballot fraud to rig the 2020 election against Donald Trump.
“I can’t show my name no more,” Freeman, Moss’ mother, stated Wednesday while on the stand. “I miss my old neighborhood because I was me. I could introduce myself. Now I just don’t have a name.”
In August, a federal judge ruled that Giuliani was liable for defamation by default after he consistently refused to hand over evidence in the case. Freeman and Moss are seeking between $14 million and $41 million from Giuliani for defamation as well as emotional distress.
Giuliani has confessed to making false statements about the women, but on Monday told reporters they were “true,” according to MSNBC.
On Wednesday, Freeman recalled the notorious phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump names Freeman repeatedly and labeled her a “professional vote scammer” as well as a “hustler.”
“I just felt like, ‘Really?’ This is the former president talking about me? Me?’ How mean, how evil,” she said, fighting back tears. “He had no clue what he was talking about. He was just trying to put a name to somebody stealing ballots, which was totally a lie.”
Moss testified on Tuesday about the harrowing experience, sharing that she lost her job and that the lives of her relatives were threatened.
“I am most scared of my son finding me and or my mom hanging outside my house on a tree, or having to get the news at school that his momma was killed,” Moss stated.
After Friday’s ruling, Giuliani told reporters the harassment Freeman and Moss dealt with was not his fault.
“The comments they received, I had nothing to do with,” he explained. “Those comments are abominable, deplorable, no defense. But I receive comments like that every day.”