前纽约市长鲁迪·朱利安尼本周在华盛顿接受审判，罪名是诽谤乔治亚州的选举工作人员2020年大选后的鲁比·弗里曼和旺德雷·“叶莎”·莫斯。朱利安尼代表前总统唐纳德·特朗普指责这对母女选举舞弊当时这两人正在佐治亚州富尔顿县计票。
美国地区法官贝丽尔·豪厄尔在八月被判缺席判决对这两个女人来说，本周的审判将决定朱利安尼必须支付的损害赔偿和任何罚款的全部范围。弗里曼和莫斯的要价在1550万到4300万美元之间。
朱利安尼坚持认为弗里曼、莫斯在“改变投票”
在审判的第一天结束后离开法庭时，鲁迪·朱利安尼告诉ABC新闻的特里·莫兰，他对自己对待鲁比·弗里曼和叶莎·莫斯的方式不后悔——他加倍强调了对他们的核心指控。
朱利安尼对记者说:“当我作证时，整个故事将非常清楚，我说的是真的，无论他们发生了什么事——不幸的是，其他人反应过度了——我说的关于他们的一切都是真的。”。
"你后悔对露比和叶莎做的事吗?"莫兰问道。
“我当然不后悔，”朱利安尼说。“我说了实话。他们在改变投票。”
“没有证据证明这一点，”莫兰回应道。
朱利安尼反驳道:“你说得太对了。”。“敬请期待。”
法庭将于美国东部时间周二上午9点继续开庭。
专家称种族主义内容“达到了我们看不到的水平”
原告在本案中的第一个证人是一名社交媒体监督人员，他作证说，在朱利安尼开始点名指责弗里曼和莫斯之后，网上出现了大量针对他们的“种族主义和图形材料”。
现为安全和风险分析师的芝加哥警察局退休官员雷吉娜·斯科特(Regina Scott)作证说，关于弗里曼和莫斯的负面报道在网上以惊人的速度出现。
斯科特准备的一份报告发现，在2020年11月至2023年5月期间，弗里曼和莫斯被提及超过71万次，在2023年8月18日至2023年11月11日期间被提及32万次。
“暴力、种族主义和图像材料的类型，在我们的作品中根本看不到，”斯科特说。
律师说，寻求的损害赔偿是“相当于死刑的民事赔偿”
鲁迪·朱利安尼的律师约瑟夫·西布利恳求陪审员暂缓对其当事人的判决，并在审判结束时考虑“公平和相称的”罚款，将弗里曼和莫斯要求的4300万美元视为“真正令人难以置信”的数字。
“原告律师在本案中要求的是相当于死刑的民事判决，”西布利在简短的开场白中告诉陪审员。
西布利在向陪审团陈述他的情况时，甚至在争论开始之前就承认朱利安尼对弗里曼和莫斯进行了诽谤性的评论，但他驳斥了他的评论导致了随后的虐待的说法。
“毫无疑问，这些原告受到了伤害，”西布利说。“他们是好人，他们不应该遭受这样的命运。”
但西布利敦促陪审员只考虑“什么实际上可以归因于朱利安尼先生。”
西布利在谈到朱利安尼时说:“他从未宣扬过针对这些女性的暴力，也从未发表过针对她们的种族主义言论。”。“那是其他随机的人。”
对原告的损害应该花费朱利安尼“数千万美元”
鲁比·弗里曼和叶莎·莫斯遭受了“永久的噩梦”，他们的律师迈克尔·戈特利布在开场白中告诉陪审团，他们遭受的损失值得“数千万美元的赔偿”
戈特利布告诉陪审团，由于朱利安尼的“诽谤运动”，他的客户遭受了三种类型的损害——名誉损害、情感损害和惩罚性损害。
除了“修复名誉”的成本，戈特利布告诉陪审员，弗里曼和莫斯的赔偿金应该考虑工资损失、被迫搬迁、安全费用等。
Giuliani defamation trial live updates: Ex-mayor insists Freeman, Moss were 'changing votes'
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is on trial in Washington, D.C., this week fordefaming Georgia election workersRuby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Giuliani, acting on behalf of former President Donald Trump, accused the mother and daughter ofcommitting election fraudwhile the two were counting ballots on Election Day in Georgia's Fulton County.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Augustawarded a default judgmentto the two women, leaving this week's trial to determine the full scope of the damages and any penalties Giuliani will have to pay. Freeman and Moss are seeking between $15.5 million and $43 million.
Giuliani insists Freeman, Moss were 'changing votes'
Departing court after the first day of the trial, Rudy Giuliani told ABC News' Terry Moran that he has no regrets about his treatment of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss -- and he doubled down on his core allegations about them.
"When I testify, the whole story will be definitively clear that what I said was true, and that, whatever happened to them -- which is unfortunate about other people overreacting -- everything I said about them is true," Giuliani told reporters.
"Do you regret what you did to Ruby and Shaye?" Moran asked.
"Of course I don't regret it," Giuliani said. "I told the truth. They were engaged in changing votes."
"There's no proof of that," Moran responded.
"You're damn right there is," Giuliani retorted. "Stay tuned."
Court will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET.
Expert describes racist content 'on a level we don't see'
Plaintiffs' first witness in the case is a social media monitor who testified about the deluge of "racist and graphic material" targeting Freeman and Moss that appeared online after Giuliani began accusing them by name.
Regina Scott, a retired Chicago Police Department official who now works as a security and risk analyst, testified that negative mentions about Freeman and Moss surfaced online at a prodigious rate.
A report Scott prepared identified more than 710,000 mentions of Freeman and Moss between November 2020 and May 2023, and 320,000 mentions between Aug. 18, 2023, and Nov. 11, 2023.
"The type of violent and racist and graphic material, that's on a level we don't see at all in our work," Scott said.
Damages sought are 'civil equivalent of death penalty,' says attorney
Joseph Sibley, an attorney for Rudy Giuliani, implored jurors to withhold judgment of his client and consider a "fair and proportionate" monetary penalty when the trial concludes, framing the $43 million sought by Freeman and Moss as a "truly incredible" figure.
"What the plaintiffs' counsel are asking for in this case is the civil equivalent of a death penalty," Sibley told jurors in brief opening remarks.
Sibley, in making his case to the jury, ceding before arguments even began that Giuliani made defamatory comments about Freeman and Moss -- but he refuted the notion that his comments led to the abuse that followed.
"There's really no question that these plaintiffs were harmed," Sibley said. "They're good people, they didn't deserve what happened to them."
But Sibley urged jurors to consider only "what can actually be attributed to Mr. Giuliani."
"He never promoted violence against these women, never made racist statements about them," Sibley said of Giuliani. "That was other random people."
Damage to plaintiffs should cost Giuliani '10s of millions'
Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss suffered a "perpetual nightmare," their attorney Michael Gottlieb told the jury during his opening remarks, saying that the damage they suffered warrants an "award in the tens of millions of dollars."
Gottlieb told jurors his clients suffered three types of damages -- reputation, emotional and punitive -- due to Giuliani's "defamation campaign."
In addition to the costs to "repair their reputation," Gottlieb told jurors that Freeman and Moss' award should account for lost wages, forced relocation, security expenses, and more.
