The law of the universe that says Donald Trump never has to face accountability for anything doesn’t necessarily apply to his henchman, as Rudy Giuliani continues to learn the hard way.
The former New York City mayor and Trump attorney—who left what little dignity he had left in the Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot four years ago—was held in contempt of court Monday for failing to turn over discovery information to the Georgia poll workers he defamed during his slapstick effort to help his boss overturn the 2020 election, the latest beat in his long-running public humiliation.
Giuliani, who has not yet to turn over the majority of his assets in the suit, “willfully violated an unambiguous order of the court,” Judge Lewis Liman ruled, accusing him of attempting to “run out the clock.”
“Discovery is not supposed to be a shell game where the hidden ball is moved around and around,” Liman said.
It’s not clear what sanctions Giuliani, whose attorney condemned the case as “lawfare and the weaponization of the legal system,” will face after the contempt ruling. But it certainly increases the pressure on him to finally pay the $148 million in damages he was ordered to turn over in 2023 to two Georgia poll workers—Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss—who sued him after being targeted with his 2020 election fraud lies.
The 80-year-old has failed to comply, with Freeman and Moss accusing him of using bankruptcy to avoid turning over his assets and Liman ruling Monday that he “blew past” a court order to make an $11 million down payment to the defamed election workers and to provide discovery information in a timely fashion. Giuliani said he failed to do so, in part, because he is struggling to juggle his defamation case with other legal matters related to his attempts to subvert Joe Biden’s 2020 victory—including two criminal cases. “Some days it is completely impossible because there are conflicting demands for material and appearances on the same day,” he told the judge. “The fact that he is a busy person…is not an excuse,” Liman said in response, describing some of his excuses as “preposterous.”
Indeed, his efforts to cling to assets—including some of his prized sports memorabilia—have been shot through with some typical Giuliani absurdity: The Joe DiMaggio jersey he had hanging above his fireplace months ago? He says he doesn’t know where it is now. Same with the signed photo of Yankees legend Reggie Jackson, which he says he may have gotten confused with a piece of Derek Jeter memorabilia. “I was blessed by the Yankees. I was blessed with a tremendous amount of memorabilia,” he said in court Friday. “I get confused about what I have and what I don’t have.”
During a break in that hearing, the New York Post reported, he approached Reuters sketch artist Jane Rosenberg to ask if she was going to make him look “nice” this time. During a previous hearing, she said he told her, “You made me look like my dog.”
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
-
What You Didn’t See on TV at the 2025 Golden Globes
-
The Disturbing History of Royal Infatuation With Hitler
-
Why the Media Needs to Cut Through Donald Trump’s “Shock and Awe” Campaign
-
What to Expect From Meghan Markle’s New Netflix Show, With Love, Meghan
-
The Best-Dressed Stars at This Year’s Golden Globes
-
Elon Musk Is Rubbing World Leaders the Wrong Way
-
The Best Rom-Coms of All Time
-
Cary Grant and Randolph Scott: “Our Souls Did Touch”
-
Save Up to 20% at the VF Shop’s Winter Sale
The post Things Go From Bad to Worse for Rudy Giuliani appeared first on Vanity Fair.
