Georgia election workers urge sanctions on Giuliani for failing to turn over evidence

Georgia election workers suing Rudy Giuliani for defamation are claiming in court filings this week that the former Trump lawyer failed to turn over evidence despite “repeated reminders” from the court.

Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who were Fulton County poll workers during the 2020 election, say that Giuliani has not taken “any steps, let alone reasonable steps,” to preserve electronic evidence in the case. Because of that, they’re asking U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who is overseeing the case, to impose “severe” sanctions on Giuliani.

One such example of evidence not turned over is a Dec. 7, 2020, email thread where then-Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn forwarded an “urgent POTUS request” to a group of allies asking for examples of purported election fraud.

“Need best examples of ‘election fraud’ that we’ve alleged that’s super easy to explain,” the message reads. “Doesn’t necessarily have to be proven, but does need to be easy to understand.”

Giuliani in reply claimed that a security camera in Atlanta — which showed Freeman and Moss moving ballots — captured “theft of a minimum of 30,000 votes, which alone would change result (sic) in Georgia,” the filings say.

Another piece of evidence the Georgia election workers say is missing is a Dec. 13, 2020, email from Giuliani to Epshteyn approving a draft statement from Trump’s legal team again claiming that video evidence showed “30,000 illegal ballots cast after the observers were removed.” That email was released by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the election workers say.

Freeman and Moss have faced backlash in the years since the 2020 election because of their ties to Trump’s false election fraud claims. Investigations involving three law enforcement agencies — Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office and special agents with the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation — found that allegations against two Fulton County poll workers “were false and unsubstantiated.” 

The election workers claim that Giuliani’s behavior “severely hampered” their ability to present their case and asserted his conduct is “disrespectful to the court.” They asked Howell to order a “default judgement” in the case — the most severe sanction available — which would essentially hand them a win.

A spokesperson for Giuliani told The Hill the request is part of a “larger effort to smear and silence Mayor Giuliani for daring to ask questions, and for challenging the accepted narrative.”

“The requests by these lawyers were deliberately overly burdensome, and sought information well beyond the scope of this case—including divorce records—in an effort to harass, intimidate and embarrass Mayor Rudy Giuliani,” said Ted Goodman, a political advisor to Giuliani.

Giuliani led the charge on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election with false claims of election fraud. Claiming Giuliani “seriously undermined the administration of justice” in those efforts, the D.C. Bar Association on Friday recommended that he be disbarred.

Updated at 2:27 p.m. July 13