Obama-appointed DC district judge Beryl Howell sidestepped the First Amendment by finding Rudy Giuliani guilty of defaming two Georgia election workers before trial for allegedly “not complying with his discovery obligations” and now she’s ordering him to pay $148 million in damages immediately because he’s “unlikely” to have the jury verdict overturned on appeal. Just as we saw with the Colorado Supreme Court unilaterally disqualifying Trump from the 2024 election ballot, every basic tenet of our justice system is being thrown out the window by Democrats using the state to enact vengeance on their political enemies.
From Axios, “Giuliani must immediately pay $148M to Georgia election workers, judge rules”:
Rudy Giuliani must immediately pay the $148 million in damages he owes for defaming two Georgia election workers, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.The big picture: The judge’s order doubles down on the multimillion-dollar penalty Trump’s former lawyer will have to pay in a case related to lies about the 2020 election, as he faces financial troubles including mounting legal fees from other cases.
Driving the news: Judge Beryl Howell wrote in the order that Giuliani was unlikely to have his jury verdict overturned or reduced in an appeal.
– Howell said the former New York City mayor could try to hide his financial assets to avoid paying the penalty if she didn’t make this ruling.
– “Giuliani has never denied that he has taken steps to hide his assets from judgment creditors, and has offered no affirmative pledge that he will take no steps to do so,” the order states.
In other words, he’s not entitled to an appeal and he has to testify against himself on how he’s going to move his money.