Government

Judge Howell Reminds Rudy Giuliani That Her Courtroom Is Not Some Landscaper's Parking Lot Outside Philly

Suprise! Rudy's discovery is as messy as his personal life.

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Rudy Giuliani And Trump Legal Advisor Hold Press Conference At RNC HQ

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Rudy Guiliani’s hot streak continues at the US District Court in DC as Judge Beryl Howell piled sanctions on America’s Mayor in the defamation case brought by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

Freeman and Moss found themselves at the center of a viral conspiracy theory in 2020 after Giuliani flogged deceptively edited video of them resuming ballot tabulation after a water main break in Atlanta. Trump himself repeated Freeman’s name upwards of ten times on the infamous phone call demanding that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.” (He did not win the state.)

Freeman and Moss testified to the January 6 Select Committee about suffering years of harassment and threats from Trump’s supporters, which even forced them to leave their homes for safety. And in December of 2021, they sued Giuliani and Herring Networks, the parent company of One America News, for defamation and emotional distress.

Herring settled the case last year, but Giuliani is still leaking hair dye all over Judge Beryl Howell’s docket. In the latest discovery dispute, Giuliani claimed to be so deeply in debt to the third-party document review company TrustPoint that it was refusing to turn over his emails. The plaintiffs then moved for additional discovery on Rudy’s finances, after which he miraculously came up with “third party funding” to get current with TrustPoint, and then asked the court to reconsider the order to disclose his finances. Freeman and Moss opposed, and complained that Giuliani was still dragging his feet and refusing to comply with discovery, particularly as pertains to the assets and corporate structure of defendants’ companies Giuliani Communications and Giuliani Partners.

After more than a year of this nonsense from a lawyer who used to run the Southern District of New York, Judge Howell appears to have had more than enough. In a series of four lengthy (even for Judge Howell!) minute orders, she expressed her extreme displeasure.

In light of an admission from Rudy’s own lawyer at the latest teleconference that “defendant has not responded to his own counsel’s request for information regarding discovery from his eponymous businesses,” the court gave him until close of business today to submit a sworn declaration disclosing the owners, employees, and assets of the Giuliani businesses. And she said he had until the end of the month to fulfill all his outstanding discovery obligations.

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Rudy’s motion for reconsideration was denied, but the defendants’ motion for attorneys fees for the time spent responding to it and the rest of his shenanigans was granted, with the court describing Rudy’s production as “arbitrarily limited” and “imprecise.” And then, as the cherry on top, Judge Howell ordered briefing on yet another pending motion for sanctions against the defendant.

But it wasn’t all bad news for Ol’ Rudy. The court did grant his request to see OAN’s settlement agreement. So he’ll have this thing wrapped up in no time, don’t you worry!

Freeman v. Herring Networks [Docket via Court Listener]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.

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