Overnight, there was breaking news in the Rudy Giuliani defamation suit.
BREAKING overnight: Rudy Giuliani concedes in a court filing that he made “false” statements about Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and no longer contests the factual allegations in their defamation lawsuit.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
Details TK pic.twitter.com/HG7emDhEs7
Basically, he admits what he said about two Georgia election workers was false and he will not dispute their claims.
Rudy’s stipulation appears intended to ward off further legal pain in this long-running defamation lawsuit. Judge Howell has already sanctioned him and threatened further penalties for failing to produce docs.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
Rudy says his concessions mean no more discovery is needed.
His hope is this will bring the discovery process to a halt, and he won't have lawyers continuing to dig into his affairs.
He doesn’t concede to any damages and still says he has legal defenses to the claims in the lawsuit — but as a factual matter, he admits he said what he said, that it was false and that it could constitute defamation/intentional infliction of emotional distress.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
Apparently, this does not mean he agrees to pay any damages.
Here is the full filing accompanying Rudy’s stipulation (it’s mentioned at the very end) https://t.co/anyvmfWcLp
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
Statement from Giuliani advisor Ted Goodman characterizes Giuliani’s stipulation as simply a way to move past the fact-gathering stage of the lawsuit and into the legal phase, where he can still try to dismiss the matter. pic.twitter.com/eoiSzB8wPp
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
Reading the statement of the advisor, it gives the impression this was an attempt to move the case along as it has been dragging for some time.
UPDATE: Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss’ legal team is celebrating the “major milestone” of Rudy’s concessions. Full statement:https://t.co/gPCb1NXxlu pic.twitter.com/BkbRhS0uMD
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
The legal team for the election workers, however, see it as a big win.
UPDATE: Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss’ legal team is celebrating the “major milestone” of Rudy’s concessions. Full statement:https://t.co/gPCb1NXxlu pic.twitter.com/BkbRhS0uMD
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
That is the last thing Mayor Rudy needs at this point. Heh!
Big concession: Rudy’s conceding facts that prove “intentional infliction of emotional distress” means he is conceding BOTH falsity and his bad intent at the time. This won’t forestall more discovery to plaintiffs, tho, which was Rudy’s goal. https://t.co/mKO642S5dl
— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) July 26, 2023
Others doubt this will stop the discovery as Giuliani seemed to hope. As with most major court cases, this is one more step in the process. Stay tuned for further chess moves in this case.
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