Rudy Giuliani faced an hours-long grilling on the witness stand Friday on allegations that he has willfully defied a judge’s orders to cough up assets to the Georgia mother and daughter he defamed.
Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss say Giuliani has deceptively sought to avoid satisfying the $148 million judgment a Washington, D.C., judge ordered him to pay them in late 2023 for baselessly and repeatedly accusing them of processing illegal ballots during the 2020 election — resulting in death threats that forced them into hiding.
Among the items the women’s lawyers say Giuliani is yet to turn over are an autographed Joe DiMaggio jersey, which he claimed he lost, paperwork for a 1980 Mercedes-Benz once owned by actress Lauren Bacall, documents related to his stake in his multimillion-dollar Upper East Side co-op apartment, sports memorabilia, and various other valuables. Giuliani was initially supposed to make the items available in October.
During a grueling few hours of questioning from Moss and Freeman’s lawyer, Meryl Governski, the former New York City mayor claimed he had done all in his power to hand over what he had, though “took it upon myself” in deciding to withhold some items, like his grandfather’s watch.
Giuliani, 80, said he was afraid Moss and Freeman would lose the timepiece, adding, “It’s the one thing that means something to me.”
He claimed Moss and Freeman had “every bit of sports memorabilia that I possessed,” except for a handful of items in Florida that weren’t included in the turnover order, and that he’d incorrectly claimed to still have a signed photo of famed Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson.
“I was blessed with a tremendous amount of Yankees memorabilia,” Giuliani said. “I gave most of it away, and I get confused about what I have and I don’t have. I am not hiding any Yankees memorabilia. I can assure you that.”
During another part of the hearing, Giuliani accused Moss and Freeman’s lawyers of being “abusive and overbroad” by asking him for a record of all the lawyers he’d consulted and about doctors he’d seen.
“I didn’t think it was appropriate for you to ask for all my doctors in the last five years,” Giuliani said, prompting Manhattan Federal Court Judge Lewis Liman, who is handling the proceedings regarding the judgment payout, to ask why not.
“I thought that’s sensitive information and completely irrelevant to what they’re doing,” Giuliani said.
“You understand you don’t make relevancy determinations?” the judge asked.
“I know I don’t, but I can have an opinion about it,” Giuliani responded.
Giuliani, whose testimony is expected to continue remotely on Monday at 10 a.m., turned up for the hearing after his legal team tried to get him out of having to appear in person in an 11th-hour request to Liman. They claimed he couldn’t be there in person due to “medical issues with his left knee and breathing problems due to lung issues discovered last year attributable to being at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001.”
Giuliani faces a bench trial on Jan. 16, also before Liman, related to his continued possession of his Yankees World Series rings — which Giuliani claimed can’t be taken from him since he gifted them to his son, Andrew — and his Florida condominium, which he’s claimed is his “homestead,” whose seizure would render him homeless.
Moss and Freeman’s lawyers say Giuliani has similarly stonewalled them in their requests for information about the Palm Beach property, seeking to establish how long it’s been his primary residence.
The former mayor, who also faces criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona related to his alleged election subversion efforts, additionally has a contempt hearing in Washington, D.C., later this month; Moss and Freeman have asked the judge presiding over their original defamation case to sanction Giuliani for brazenly continuing to defame them.
Asked how he was holding up about his legal woes after Friday’s hearing, Giuliani said, “I don’t know? I’m holding up. I’m gonna go do my show now.”
Giuliani now broadcasts on social media after losing his WABC radio show in May 2024 for repeatedly violating an agreement not to spread false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
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