A judge found on Monday that Rudy Giuliani was in contempt of court in a civil case brought by two Georgia election officials who the former New York mayor falsely accused of trying to help steal the US presidential election in favor of the Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan said Giuliani did not respond to requests from election officials Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea Moss for information that could help them determine which of his assets could be turned over to pay the judgment for defamation.
The contempt citation in the district where Giuliani was the top federal prosecutor marks yet another setback for Giuliani, once known as “America’s Mayor” for his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The decision stems from a lawsuit Freeman and Moss filed against Giuliani in 2021. They accused Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer of destroying their reputations by lying that they tried to help steal the 2020 election.
Giuliani has made repeated false claims that surveillance video showed the pair hiding and counting suitcases full of illegal ballots at an Atlanta basketball arena that was used to process votes.
Giuliani was disbarred from the bar for making false claims about the 2020 election and has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona that he helped Trump in his unsuccessful attempt to overturn his defeat.
