How the Rudy Giuliani defamation verdict could spell trouble for Trump

A Washington, D.C., jury last week awarded $148 million to two Georgia election workers who accused former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani of defaming them with false allegations of election fraud that disrupted their lives and exposed them to vicious threats. Giuliani said the size of the judgment demonstrated the "absurdity" of the case. He insisted he had video proving his debunked allegations. The election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, responded by suing him again, demanding that he stop repeating the lies, according to NBC News.

Legal experts said the damage award was likely to be reduced on appeal. Giuliani's lawyers said if he had to pay it in full it would be like a financial "death penalty," noted the New York Daily News. Giuliani's loss in the case followed a string of setbacks suffered by other aides and lawyers who participated in Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

Trump, in his "infamous Jan. 2, 2021, phone call" with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, referred to Freeman as "a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler," echoing the allegations that got Giuliani in trouble, according to Salon. What does Giuliani's fate mean for Trump as he campaigns to take back the White House in the 2024 election while prosecutors charge him with crimes fueled by similar unfounded 2020 election fraud claims?

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Rudy Giuliani's crash is a bad omen for Trump

This verdict applied to Rudy Giuliani alone, says David French in The New York Times. "But make no mistake, MAGA was on trial in the courtroom — its methods, its morality and the means it uses to escape the consequences of its dreadful acts." The trial exposed the lies Giuliani told to support Trump's bogus claim that the election was stolen from him, writing "another page in the volume of truth that tells the real story of MAGA America." This could hurt Trump in 2024 as he campaigns to win back the White House. This verdict helped show fence-sitting voters "exactly who Trump is and what his movement is like." 

If nothing else, Giuliani's smackdown should make Trump nervous about how jurors might react in his election-subversion trials, says Natalie Venegas at Newsweek. Trump and Giuliani are among the co-defendants in Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis' criminal election interference case over the Trump team's effort to overturn his narrow loss in the state. Former prosecutor David Henderson explained to MSNBC what this could mean for Trump. "The real issue here is you've got a preview from the way that the jury down in Georgia is going to receive them," Henderson said. "Giuliani, former President Trump, and anyone in their circle should be very nervous about this outcome." 

Giuliani hurt only himself

The massive judgment against Rudy Giuliani "illustrates the fate of so many who promoted Donald Trump's claims of election fraud in 2020," says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. Some, including lawyer Sidney Powell, have already "pleaded guilty to crimes." And many Trump supporters who "breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, however naively, have had their lives turned upside down by indictments and in some cases jail time." Giuliani might wind up bankrupt, with his law license stripped away. It doesn't pay to set aside your "better judgment" out of loyalty and do someone's dirty work for them. Trump might wind up being the only person to "emerge unscathed from his election falsehoods." 

This verdict might not hurt Trump, personally, but it's a "good moment for America," says Paul Waldman at MSNBC. It shows our legal system sometimes "produces something like justice. That's particularly important "given the man on whose behalf Giuliani was acting." What happened to Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman was inexcusable. "They were swept up in Trump's attempt to stay in power even though he lost the election." And Trump was "abetted by cronies like Giuliani, who were so hungry for power they didn't care how many ordinary people they stomped on along the way." If Giuliani lives out his life "eating convenience store ramen and fretting about whether he'll be able to afford a place to live next month, it will be precisely what he deserves."