In a court filing last night, Rudy Giuliani legally admitted to making “false statements” about two Georgia election workers: Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman.
Both Moss and Freeman faced accusations from Trump and his attorneys and, allegedly, threats from Trump’s followers over disproven claims of massive voter fraud in battleground states like Georgia.
A state Joe Biden narrowly won by 11,779 votes.
It’s still being determined how this may affect Fani Willis’ potential case against the former president if the grand jury decides to indict. (RELATED: Georgia Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Trump Bid To Derail Election Probe)
Though that hasn’t stopped online speculation, from one observer on Twitter proclaiming that given Giuliani will become the fall guy in the 45th president’s legal defense, given America’s Mayor admitted what he stated about Moss and Freeman was defamatory as a matter of law, which allegedly led Trump to target the mother-daughter duo.
Another commenter floated the possibility of Giuliani and his lawyers testifying that Trump pressured them to push conspiracy theories of widespread voter fraud court rulings found no evidence of.
As The New York Times reports:
Rudolph W. Giuliani has conceded that while acting as a lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump, he made false statements by asserting that two Georgia election workers had mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election.
The concession by Mr. Giuliani came in court papers filed on Tuesday night as part of a defamation lawsuit that the two workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, had brought against him in Federal District Court in Washington in December 2021.
The suit accused Mr. Giuliani and others of promoting a video that purported to show Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss — who are mother and daughter — of manipulating ballots while working at the State Farm Arena for the Fulton County Board of Elections.
In a two-page declaration, Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that he had in fact made the statements about Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss that led to the filing of the suit and that the remarks “carry meaning that is defamatory per se.” He also admitted that his statements were “actionable” and “false” and that he no longer disputed the “factual elements of liability” the election workers had raised in their suit.
While a legal admission of defamation, Giuliani insists that his “legal defenses” remain strong. Firstly, he argues his accusations were constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. And secondly, he states that any claims that caused the women damages are false.
Proving the latter will be necessary for the plaintiffs to collect any judgment.
Ted Goodman, a spokesman for Giuliani, claimed he made the admissions to expedite the case to a point where a motion to dismiss could be filed.
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