Jury unanimously orders Rudy Giuliani to pay nearly $150M to GA election workers he defamed

Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was just dealt a significant financial blow by a jury in US District Court in Washington, DC.

The eight-member jury unanimously ordered Giuliani to pay $148 million in total financial damages to former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, whom he falsely accused of manipulating ballots in the 2020 presidential election. US District Judge Beryl Howell already found Giuliani liable of defamation, and the jury had been in deliberations since Thursday following the four-day trial to decide how much the former New York City mayor should be required to pay to Freeman and Moss.

Giuliani was ordered to pay $20 million apiece to both Freeman and Moss for "intentional infliction of emotional distress." He was also ordered to pay $24 million to each plaintiff for defamatory statements, and the remainder being awarded to each woman in the form of punitive damages.

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In the wake of Giuliani's comments about both Freeman and Moss in December of 2020, both woman were subsequently driven out of their jobs in the wake of an onslaught of death threats from Trump supporters. Both women testified that they had to move out of their homes and try unsuccessfully to apply for jobs, including at fast food restaurant chain Chik-fil-A, where an employee reportedly showed Moss a photo of herself with the word "TRAITOR" superimposed over it.

"I was scared to come home at dark, you know," Freeman said during the trial. "I was just scared, I knew I had to move."

Michael Gottlieb, who represented Freeman and Moss, said in his closing statements that Giuliani "no right to offer up defenseless civil servants up to a virtual mob in order to overturn an election."

Giuliani, for his part, has held fast to his claims about Freeman and Moss. Prior to his appearance in Howell's court on Tuesday, he continued to accuse both women of "changing votes." This prompted Howell to ask Giuliani attorney Joe Sibley how he planned to hold his client accountable, with Sibley admitting he was "not sure how it’s reconcilable."

READ MORE: Judge: Giuliani doubling down on election worker attacks 'could support another defamation claim'