Former Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani conceded that he “does not contest” that statements he made about two election workers in 2020 were “false,” according to a Tuesday court filing.
Two Fulton County (Ga.) poll workers — Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss — sued Giuliani for defamation in December 2021 over statements he made falsely claiming they played a role in fixing the election. In a two-page statement filed Tuesday, he said that he will “not contest” that those statements were “false” and “carry meaning that is defamatory.”
In his statement, Giuliani also said he will not challenge the “factual elements of liability” regarding the election workers’ allegations of “intentional infliction of emotional distress and other related tort claims.”
However, his statement maintains that those concessions do not affect his argument that the statements and opinions he made were “constitutionally protected.” The statement also notes that he is conceding on these allegations “for the purposes of deciding this case on legal issues.”
This statement comes just days after former New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner Bernard Kerik — who helped former President Trump’s campaign look into false claims of election fraud in 2020 — committed to turning over documents to Freeman and Moss’s legal team.
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The Hill has reached out to Giuliani for further comment.
Freeman and Moss, a mother-daughter pair, began to receive backlash during the 2020 election after social media posts surfaced that falsely claimed to show them committing election fraud. These false allegations were perpetrated by Giuliani and Trump, according to a report investigating the matter.
A series of probes led by three law enforcement agencies — Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office and special agents within the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation — found those allegations against the poll workers “were false and unsubstantiated.”
The election workers also filed a defamation lawsuit against One America News Network — which advanced the false claims during their broadcasts. The network ultimately paid a settlement and issued an on-air retraction of the allegations last year.