(Washington) The trial of Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for compensation for two election workers he dragged through the mud during the 2020 presidential election, opened Monday in federal court of Washington.
Judge Beryl Howell had already found him guilty in August of defamation of Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, two election officials from the state of Georgia (southeast) and ordered him to reimburse them nearly $133,000 lawyer fees.
This trial aims to determine the amount of damages owed by Mr. Giuliani, who admitted the facts. The two women are asking for $15.5 million to $43 million.
From a video showing the mother and her daughter during the counting of ballots passing an object – which turned out to be a mint tablet – the ex-mayor and ex-prosecutor of New York claimed that they exchanged a USB key “as if it were doses of heroin or cocaine” to fake the results.
The complainants, both black, told the parliamentary commission on the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 how Mr. Giuliani’s accusations, taken up by Donald Trump on his social networks, had earned them a flood of insults and threats, often of a racist nature.
Rudy Giuliani was indicted in August by the Georgia courts along with Donald Trump and 17 others for illicit manipulation to reverse the results of the 2020 election in this key state.
Four of the 19 defendants initially targeted by the indictment issued on August 14, notably under a law on organized crime, have already pleaded guilty. They were sentenced to reduced sentences, without prison time, in exchange for their testimony at the future trial of the other defendants.