Just minutes after leaving the first day of his civil trial, Rudy Giuliani repeated a false allegation about the pollworkers.

Rudy Giuliani’s defiant public statements outside a Washington, D.C., federal courthouse — just minutes after he departed the first day of his civil trial for defaming two Georgia election workers — may have defamed them yet again, the judge presiding over the proceedings said Tuesday.

“Was Mr. Giuliani just playing for the cameras?” wondered U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who has already found Giuliani liable for lying about the workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, by accusing them of manipulating ballots in the 2020 election.

His attorney, Joe Sibley, agreed that he could not reconcile Giuliani’s out-of-court comments on Monday evening with the more contrite argument Sibley had made on behalf of the former New York City mayor earlier in the day.

After the first day of his trial, when jurors began to hear evidence to determine just how much Giuliani must pay for defaming the two women, Giuliani approached television cameras outside the courthouse and reiterated his attacks on them.

  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    “This has taken a bit of a toll on him. He’s almost 80 years old”

    Boo fucking Hoo. They should ride that fucking traitors corpse into the poor house if they have to.

    • nul9o9@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      He could have sold his NY real estate, moved to a cozy home upstate with full time nursing care if he was so enfeebled.

    • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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      1 year ago

      It’s a stupid fucking excuse. If the man’s been on this earth hurting people and spreading bullshit for 80 years, why should I feel any sympathy for his age? These vile assholes don’t deserve peace, they shouldn’t be allowed to just get away with it because they’ve been ruining lives for long enough.

    • Ibex0@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      He should have walked away, around 2016. The whole “America’s mayor” thing was a sweet deal for him.

  • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Question for the legally aware:

    I’ve seen many cases where the court will adjust jury-awarded penalties downward. A jury might find a chemical company liable in polluting a river and award the claimants $100M, and the court will adjust it to $5M.

    The justice and potential for corruption etc aside, could the judge in a case like this and given an event like this increase the amount Rudy must pay over and above the $43M or whatever it is that’s being asked? Could the court say that the impenitent and repeatedly offending nature of Rudy merits additional penalties above and beyond what was asked for in the context of this case, or like with the Trump defamation case would it need a separate trial?

    • SoylentBlake@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      In E Jean Carrolls case against Trump, after the judge awarded her $5mil, Trump walked out of the courtroom and lied to the camera, again, even having just lost on it.

      The attorney filed a motion against Trump the next day asking for double damages and was promptly awarded it. $10mil total.

      So yea, the judge has some discretion.

    • Yes, the terms are additur (adding money to the jury’s award) and remittitur (taking money away from from the jury’s award. It happens when the jury’s award is obviously too much or not enough.

      Additur is very rare. Basically requires an inconsistent verdict or a clearly wrong application of the facts by the jury, such as if the jury found the defendant solely liable for destroying the plaintiff’s car and the value of the car was never disputed and accepted by everyone to be $10,000, but the jury only awards $5,000 in compensation. One reason it’s so rare is because if the value of a thing is not really in dispute, usually the parties will stipulate to its value.

      Remittitur is much more common. Most state courts hold that the damages awarded must have some basis in the evidence, and the figure cannot simply be pulled from thin air. Even with punitive damages, a smart plaintiff puts in some evidence of the defendant’s total worth or profits.

  • Nougat@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Lol, his attorney trying to be all “Oh he’s just an old man,” and Howell putting a stop to that shit instantly.

  • ForestOrca@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Is it reasonable to double the fines for each act of defamation? Or should the multiplier be larger?

    • Alto@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Doubling is fine, people tend to be awful at visualizing exponential growth as it is

  • recapitated@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Let’s make this real clear and help stop normalizing all the self-owning and wasting every taxpayers’ time and money.

    This is why the elder and wiser politician bowed the f out whenever they f’d up. Stop digging your graves deeper. We don’t want you back and you’re not saving face this way.