Reuters
Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday lost a defamation suit filed by two Georgia election workers after a federal judge deemed him unable to produce and preserve substantial electronic evidence or respond to subpoenas, resulting in a “default” judgement.
In a fiery 57-page ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, Giuliani was chided line after line for “donning a cloak of victimization” and undermining the discovery process in what should have been a “straight-forward defamation case.”
“Rather than simply play by the rules designed to promote a discovery process necessary to reach a fair decision on the merits of plaintiffs’ claims, Giuliani has bemoaned plaintiffs’ efforts to secure his compliance as ‘punishment by process,’” Howell wrote in the ruling.