Rudy Giuliani has had a tough couple of years. Indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis this summer alongside Donald Trump and 17 others, he’s spent the past week in Washington, D.C., court in the final stage of the civil defamation trial brought by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. Giuliani’s now-infamous comments about Freeman and Moss were highlighted repeatedly during the House’s Jan. 6 hearings, calling attention to the human cost of the plot to overturn the 2020 election.
Now we know the monetary costs as well, after a jury awarded Moss and Freeman nearly $150 million in combined damages on Friday.
You would think Giuliani might be motivated to make different choices. On the other hand, poor choices are why Giuliani has so many legal problems to begin with.
With so many overlapping legal problems, you would think Giuliani might be motivated to make different choices. On the other hand, poor choices are why Giuliani has so many legal problems to begin with. So it’s not too surprising that he early and often drew the ire of the judge in D.C. As I’d bet most criminal defense attorneys will tell you, clients tend to lack the self-awareness needed to connect their behavior with their legal predicaments. Instead, too many people behave like Giuliani and perceive the world as unfairly aligned against them. Even when Giuliani engages in self-sabotage, he likely doesn’t see it that way.
The problems for Giuliani started back in August, when U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found Giuliani civilly liable due to the “willful shirking of his discovery obligations.” When Giuliani subsequently failed to appear at a pretrial hearing in early December, Howell expressed her frustration with Giuliani’s lawyer Joseph Sibley. A court order required the parties to be present at all court events, she noted, including that hearing.
At the time, Sibley took responsibility for his client’s absence, claiming he had…
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