Rudy
Giuliani
is
ready
to
start
2025
off
with
a
bang.
America’s
mayor
is
courting
contempt
in
two
federal
courtrooms,
and
he’s
on
the
verge
of
getting
himself
a
default
judgment
to
boot.
Squad
goals!
Rudy’s
been
at
this
passion
project
since
November
of
2020,
when
he
falsely
accused
Ruby
Freeman
and
Shaye
Moss,
two
Atlanta
poll
workers,
of
tabulating
thousands
of
fraudulent
ballots.
In
August
of
2023,
Judge
Beryl
Howell
ordered
a
default
judgment
against
him,
thanks
to
his
utter
refusal
to
comply
with
his
discovery
obligations.
And
in
December
a
jury
awarded
the
plaintiffs
$148
million
in
damages.
Freeman
and
Moss
have
been
trying
to
collect
on
the
judgment
for
a
year,
with
Giuliani
stumbling
into
and
out
of
bankruptcy
in
an
effort
to
halt
collections
while
he
pursues
his
doomed
appeal.
Rudy
has
long
since
worn
out
his
welcome
with
Judge
Lewis
Liman
in
the
Southern
District
of
New
York,
including
by
showing
up
at
Mar-a-Lago
in
a
Mercedes
the
court
had
already
ordered
him
to
hand
over
to
the
plaintiffs.
“There
should
be
no
higher
priority
for
your
client
than
complying
with
the
court’s
orders,”
the
judge
warned
Rudy’s
new
counsel,
a
Staten
Island
divorce
lawyer
named
Joseph
Cammarata.
That
admonition
came
at
a
hearing
two
weeks
ago
when
Rudy’s
prior
lawyers
got
their
exit
visas
stamped
after
convincing
Judge
Liman
that
they
could
not
ethically
continue
to
represent
him
in
his
bid
to
claim
the
homestead
exemption
for
his
Florida
condo.
Things
have
not
improved
since
then.
On
December
5,
the
plaintiffs
filed
a
motion
requesting
that
the
court
hold
Giuliani
in
contempt
and
impose
death
penalty
sanctions,
barring
him
from
arguing
at
his
January
16
trial
that
he
actually
lived
in
Florida
last
year.
Giuliani
responded
by
emptying
his
pockets
and
hoping
a
wad
of
used
tissues
and
an
expired
Metro
card
would
satisfy
the
plaintiffs.
It
did
not:
Mr.
Giuliani’s
production
of
19
“exhibits”
(produced
without
Bates
stamps
or
metadata)
is
facially
incomplete
and
nothing
more
than
an
exercise
in
cherry-picking
the
documents
that
will
be
available
to
adjudicate
Plaintiffs’
claims.
As
one
notable
example,
the
production
does
not
include
a
single
text
message
or
email.
Judge
Liman
rebuffed
the
letter,
sniffing
that
he’d
already
scheduled
a
contempt
hearing
for
the
19th,
and
“The
Court
did
not
contemplate
nor
did
it
permit
“updates”
–
from
either
side
–
regarding
the
state
of
Defendant’s
compliance
with
the
Court’s
orders.”
And
it
looks
like
they’ll
have
a
packed
agenda
for
that
hearing,
since
Rudy
has
suddenly
announced,
that
he’ll
be
calling
six
witnesses,
including
himself
at
the
trial
on
January
16.
Rudy’s
already
blown
through
discovery
deadlines
without
meaningfully
responding,
and
his
dingbat
henchmen
have
all
ignored
subpoenas.
And
so
it’s
hardly
surprising
that
the
plaintiffs
were
apoplectic:
Now,
more
than
a
month
after
the
deadline
to
make
initial
disclosures—on
December
8,
2024—
Mr.
Giuliani
served
amended
disclosures,
adding
five
new
witnesses
who
he
now
says
may
possess
discoverable
information
that
he
may
use
at
trial:
Maria
Ryan,
Ryan
Medrano,
Joseph
Ricci,
Michael
Ragusa,
and
Robert
Wagner
(the
“Newly-Disclosed
Witnesses”).
Mr.
Giuliani
disclosed
that
each
“is
likely
to
have
discoverable
information
regarding
but
not
limited
to
the
Rudolph
W.
Giuliani
moving
to
Florida
as
his
permanent
residence
which
he
actually
and
does
actually
occupy
as
his
domicile.”
None
of
these
new
witnesses
have
been
deposed
and
only
one
has
produced
documents…
Further,
Mr.
Giuliani
did
not
provide
any
address,
telephone
number,
or
other
contact
information
for
either
Mr.
Ragusa
or
Robert
Wagner.
And
although
Plaintiffs
are
familiar
with
Mr.
Ragusa
from
earlier
proceedings,
Plaintiffs
do
not
know
who
Mr.
Wagner
is
or
how
to
distinguish
him
from
the
multitude
of
others
who
share
that
common
name,
much
less
locate
him
for
the
purpose
of
serving
a
subpoena.
Meanwhile,
Rudy
has
continued
to
defame
the
women,
prompting
them
to
return
to
Judge
Howell
in
DC
to
ask
her
to
make
him
knock
it
off
already.
Rudy’s
been
representing
himself
pro
se
in
that
action,
but
he
wangled
a
few
more
days
to
respond
to
the
contempt
motion
by
promising
to
hire
a
(non-disbarred)
lawyer.
Maybe
he
can
finds
someone
who
understands
Bates
stamps!
Freeman
v.
Giuliani
[New
York
Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Freeman
v.
Giuliani
[DC
Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.