周三，一名联邦法官对两名佐治亚州选举工作人员做出了缺席判决，这是他们对前特朗普律师鲁迪·朱利安尼提起的民事诽谤诉讼的一部分，朱利安尼也面临着单独的刑事指控在富尔顿县。
鲁比·弗里曼和旺德雷·“叶莎”·莫斯这对母女起诉这位前纽约市长诽谤他的错误言论指控这两个人在2020年佐治亚州选举日欺诈操纵选票。
在选举后的几天里，弗里曼和莫斯成为特朗普支持的阴谋论的主题，后来发现这一理论是“虚假和未经证实的”根据一项调查佐治亚州选举委员会。朱利安尼在佐治亚州议会的一个委员会前露面时告诉立法者，网上流传的一段视频显示“鲁比·弗里曼和叶莎·弗里曼·莫斯”...很明显，他们偷偷摸摸地通过USB接口，就像他们是海洛因或可卡因的小瓶。”
几个月来，朱利安尼一直拒绝两人的努力，以获得相关的发现材料的情况下。因此，美国法官贝里尔·豪厄尔(Beryl Howell)周三认定朱利安尼对他的诽谤言论负有责任，对他进行了严厉的制裁——包括缺席判决——并下令进行审判，以确定赔偿的完整范围。
朱利安尼只是口头上同意履行他的调查义务...并阻挠原告鲁比·弗里曼和旺德雷·叶莎·莫斯在本案中获得任何有意义的发现的程序权利，”豪厄尔写道。
豪厄尔在她57页的意见中，指责朱利安尼在他所谓的“程序惩罚”的幌子下规避发现规则——试图将自己框定为不公平迫害的受害者。
“披上受害者的外衣在公共舞台上对某些观众来说可能很好，”豪厄尔写道，“但在法庭上，这种表现只会颠覆正常的发现过程。”
朱利安尼已经之前说过他对弗里曼和莫斯对他的言论提出的“事实指控”没有异议，但他的言论是“受宪法保护的”。
周三，豪厄尔写道，“朱利安尼的规定比瑞士奶酪有更多的漏洞”，并“明确表示他的目标是绕过发现过程。”
豪厄尔推测，朱利安尼的努力隐瞒发现这件事可能反映了一种策略，旨在平息他在其他案件中日益增长的法律曝光-包括他现在面临的刑事指控在富尔顿县，在那里他和其他18人被指控本月早些时候在一个全面的敲诈勒索起诉涉嫌试图推翻该州2020年总统选举的结果。
豪厄尔写道:“或许，他已经计算出，在这个案件中，不遵守他的发现义务，他的整体诉讼风险就会最小化。”"无论原因是什么，义务都是个案特有的，在这种情况下，拒绝必要的发现是有后果的."
弗里曼和莫斯在一份声明中称赞了这一裁决。
他们在声明中说:“鲁迪·朱利安尼帮助释放了一波我们从未想象过的仇恨和威胁。”。“这让我们失去了安全感和自由。没有什么能挽回我们失去的一切，但今天的裁决是又一个中立的发现，证实了我们一直以来都知道的事情:对我们的任何指控都没有任何真实性，我们没有做错任何事情。我们被抹黑纯粹是出于政治原因，责任人可以也应该被追究责任。”
朱利安尼的政治顾问特德·古德曼在回应该裁决时说:“这份57页的关于发现的意见——通常不会超过两三页——是司法系统武器化的一个主要例子，在那里程序就是惩罚。这个决定应该被推翻。”
豪厄尔法官要求双方就案件的下一步措施提交摘要，并写道，确定全部损害赔偿范围的审判将在今年晚些时候或明年初进行。
作为额外的制裁，在审判中，“陪审团将被指示，他们必须在确定适当的惩罚性赔偿金额时，推断朱利安尼故意试图隐藏有关他的金融资产的相关发现，以人为降低他的净资产，”豪厄尔补充说。
去年弗里曼特里·莫兰告诉ABC新闻她随后受到了阴谋论者如此多的骚扰，以至于有一段时间她被迫暂时离开她在亚特兰大郊区居住了20年的家。
在本案中没有被起诉的特朗普也发表了对弗里曼的贬低性评论。
这一对给了类似的证词当他们出现在调查1月6日事件的众议院选举委员会面前时。
Giuliani sanctioned by judge in defamation case brought by 2 Georgia election workers
A federal judge on Wednesday awarded a default judgment to a pair of Georgia election workers as part of their civil defamation suit against former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who also facesseparate criminal chargesin Fulton County.
The mother-daughter tandem of Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss are suing the former New York City mayor for defamation over erroneous remarks he madeaccusing the pairof fraudulently manipulating ballots on Election Day 2020 in Georgia.
In the days after the election, Freeman and Moss became the subjects of a Trump-backed conspiracy theory that was later found to be "false and unsubstantiated,"according to an investigationby the Georgia Elections Board. Giuliani, in an appearance before a committee of the Georgia state legislature, told lawmakers that a video circulating online showed "Ruby Freeman and Shaye Freeman Moss ... quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports, as if they're vials of heroin or cocaine."
For months, Giuliani has rebuffed the pair's efforts to obtain relevant discovery materials in the case. As a result, U.S. Judge Beryl Howell found Giuliani on Wednesday liable for his defamatory remarks, levelled harsh sanctions against him -- including the default judgment -- and ordered a trial to determine the complete scope of damages.
"Giuliani has given only lip service to compliance with his discovery obligations ... and thwarted plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Wandrea 'Shaye' Moss' procedural rights to obtain any meaningful discovery in this case," Howell wrote.
Howell, in her 57-page opinion, accused Giuliani of skirting discovery rules under the guise of what he called "punishment by process" -- seeking to frame himself as a victim of unfair persecution.
"Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences," Howell wrote, "but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery."
Former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman, left, and her daughter Shaye Moss appear on the ABC News program Impact x Nightline, Nov. 3, 2022.
ABC News
Giuliani haspreviously statedthat he "does not contest the factual allegations" made by Freeman and Moss regarding his statements, but that his statements were "constitutionally protected."
On Wednesday, Howell wrote that "Giuliani's stipulations hold more holes than Swiss cheese" and "make clear his goal to bypass the discovery process."
Howell speculated that Giuliani's efforts to withhold discovery in this matter could reflect a strategy meant to quell his growing legal exposure in other cases -- including the criminal charges he now faces in Fulton County, where he and 18 others were charged earlier this month in asweeping racketeering indictmentfor alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state.
"Perhaps, he has made the calculation that his overall litigation risks are minimized by not complying with his discovery obligations in this case," Howell wrote. "Whatever the reason, obligations are case specific and withholding required discovery in this case has consequences."
Freeman and Moss, in a statement, lauded the ruling.
"Rudy Giuliani helped unleash a wave of hatred and threats we never could have imagined," their statement said. "It cost us our sense of security and our freedom to go about our lives. Nothing can restore all we lost, but today's ruling is yet another neutral finding that has confirmed what we have known all along: that there was never any truth to any of the accusations about us and that we did nothing wrong. We were smeared for purely political reasons, and the people responsible can and should be held accountable."
Giuliani political adviser Ted Goodman, in response to the ruling, said, "This 57 page opinion on discovery -- which would usually be no more than two or three pages -- is a prime example of the weaponization of the justice system, where the process is the punishment. This decision should be reversed."
Judge Howell asked the parties to file briefs on next steps in the case, and wrote that a trial to determine the full scope of damages will take place later this year or early next.
As an additional sanction, at trial, "the jury will be instructed that they must, when determining an appropriate sum of punitive damages, infer that Giuliani is intentionally trying to hide relevant discovery about his financial assets for the purpose of artificially deflating his net worth," Howell added.
Last year Freemantold ABC News' Terry Moranthat she subsequently received so much harassment from conspiracy theorists that for a time she was forced to temporarily leave the suburban Atlanta home where she had lived for 20 years.
Trump, who was not sued in this case, has also made disparaging comments about Freeman.
The pair gavesimilar testimonywhen they appeared before the House selection committee investigating the events of Jan. 6.
