Rudy Giuliani backed down from testifying in his $43 million defamation trial because victims 'had been through enough,' his lawyer tells jurors
Rudy Giuliani flashed a toothy grin as his lawyer told the judge he would back down from testifying.
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- Rudy Giuliani didn't the witness stand in his defamation trial.
- By not taking the stand, Giuliani didn't present any defense case at all.
- His lawyer told jurors that his victims "had been through enough."
Rudy Giuliani didn't take the witness stand after all.
The former personal lawyer for Donald Trump and New York City mayor decided not to testify in his ongoing defamation trial brought by two Georgia election workers, who he falsely said manipulated ballots in the 2020 election.
In a closing argument to jurors Thursday, Giuliani's lawyer Joseph D. Sibley said they decided not to ask his defamation victim Ruby Freeman any questions because she was "emotional and hard to handle." After her testimony in the trial, he said, Giuliani decided not to testify.
"Everything you saw was 100% genuine. That wasn't acting," Sibley said of the women's emotions on the witness stand.
"We made the decision not to have my client testify. Because these women had been through enough," Sibley told jurors in the Washington, D.C., federal court. "These women were victims and, as the court has ruled, my client has committed wrongful actions against them."
US District Judge Beryl Howell has already ruled Giuliani is liable for defaming Freeman and Moss, and that the jury just needs to come up with a dollar amount for the damages.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Freeman and her daughter Weandra "Shaye" Moss, rested their case on Wednesday afternoon.
In court, Freeman testified about the horrific racist death threats she received following Giuliani pushing the false conspiracy theories about her and her daughter.
Ashlee Humphries, a marketing expert, calculated for her testimony that Giuliani caused up to $47.5 million in damage to their reputations. Freeman and Moss are asking for a high range of up to $43 million in damage.
Giuliani told journalists after court Wednesday that he would "keep them guessing" as to whether he'd take the witness stand. Howell said in court Thursday that his attorney, Joseph D. Sibley, had said in an email at 6 p.m. Wednesday that he would not testify.
Giuliani gave a toothy grin as Sibley confirmed Thursday that he would not testify after all.
By not taking the witness stand, Giuliani didn't present any case at all.
He hasn't presented another expert witness to contradict Humphries's $47.5 million "upper bound" figure.
Aside from the defamation case from Freeman and Moss, Giuliani has a number of other legal threats.
He is also under indictment in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the election results in the state, along with Donald Trump and about a dozen other defendants.
Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, two election technology companies that were also the subject of false conspiracy theories Giuliani espoused, have pending civil defamation lawsuits against him as well.
This story has been updated.