Rudy Giuliani skips hearing in election worker defamation case, drawing judge’s ire

WASHINGTON – Rudy Giuliani skipped a court hearing Tuesday ahead of his defamation trial, drawing the ire of a federal judge.

A pretrial hearing was held Tuesday in Washington, D.C., ahead of next week’s jury trial to determine how much Giuliani will have to pay in damages to Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, two Georgia election workers who was found liable for defamation.

Judge Beryl A. Howell began the hearing by asking each side’s attorneys to state their names and specify who was at their table. Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Sibley, who was alone at the defendant’s table, introduced himself before the judge asked him where Giuliani was.

When Sibley responded that Giuliani was in New York, the judge reminded him that his standing order directed that all attorneys and parties attend the hearing.

“How could you have missed that? Or did you miss it? Howell asked Sibley and said, “That sets the tone for the whole case, doesn’t it?”

Sibley told the judge he misread the order and took the blame for Giuliani’s absence. When the judge asked him if he was “falling on his sword” for Giuliani, Sibley said no.

“I should have been aware,” Sibley said. “It’s my fault”.

The judge later told Sibley that he must submit in writing by noon Wednesday that Giuliani does not plan to object to any of the decisions made at the pretrial conference.

Giuliani’s defamation trial will begin Monday with jury selection. Howell has already found that Giuliani is “civilly liable for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and plaintiffs’ punitive damage claims” due to his “intentional misconduct in discovery” and his willful “circumvention of his discovery obligations.”

The jurors will decide the financial penalty.

Giuliani previously admitted that he made “false” statements about Freeman and Moss, who were election workers in Georgia. Both women told the House committee on Jan. 6 that the campaign against them had a devastating impact on their lives. They are looking for between 15.5 and 43 million dollars.