(Photo
by
Alex
Wong/Getty
Images)
Rudy
Giuliani
is
the
gift
that
keeps
on
giving
for
Donald
Trump.
After
steering
him
into
two
separate
impeachments
and
failing
to
overturn
the
2020
election,
America’s
erstwhile
Mayor
has
just
saddled
the
Trump
campaign
and
the
Republican
National
Committee
with
a
collections
action
by
former
Atlanta
poll
workers
Ruby
Freeman
and
Shaye
Moss.
Karma’s
a
bitch,
man.
In
2020,
Giuliani
smeared
Freeman
and
Moss,
falsely
claiming
that
they
had
stolen
the
election
from
Trump
in
Georgia
by
tabulating
fraudulent
ballots.
Trump
himself
named
Freeman,
whom
he
described
as
a
“professional
vote
scammer,”
18
times
in
his
infamous
call
to
Georgia
Secretary
of
State
Brad
Raffensperger.
In
2021,
the
pair
sued
for
defamation,
and
the
following
year
Judge
Beryl
Howell
granted
them
a
default
judgment,
thanks
to
Rudy’s
complete
failure
to
comply
with
his
discovery
obligations.
A
jury
awarded
the
plaintiffs
$148
million,
after
which
Rudy
stumbled
into
and
out
of
bankruptcy
in
a
shambolic
attempt
to
evade
collections.
That
case
is
now
on
appeal
to
the
DC
Circuit,
but
Giuliani
is
in
no
financial
position
to
post
a
supersedeas
bond.
(Who
would
underwrite
an
80-year-old
disbarred
lawyer
who
is
functionally
insolvent?)
On
August
5,
Freeman
and
Moss
filed
a
collection
action
in
the
Southern
District
of
New
York,
along
with
a
contemporaneous
seizure
claim
in
Florida
with
respect
to
Giuliani’s
Palm
Beach
condo.
In
a
deposition,
Giuliani
admitted
that
he’d
never
been
paid
“about
two
million
dollars”
in
legal
fees
by
the
Trump
campaign
and
the
RNC
for
work
performed
in
2020
and
2021.
This
jibes
with
a
passage
from
the
special
counsel’s
latest
immunity
filing
in
the
election
interference
case:
[Herschmann]
repeatedly
gave
the
defendant
his
honest
assessment
that
[Giuliani]
could
not
mount
successful
legal
challenges
to
the
election.
For
instance,
when
the
defendant
told
[Herschmann]
that
he
was
going
to
put
[Giuliani]
in
charge
of
the
Campaign’s
legal
efforts
but
pay
him
only
if
he
succeeded,
[Herschmann]
told
the
defendant
he
would
never
have
to
pay
[Giuliani]
anything;
in
response,
the
defendant
laughed
and
said,
“we’ll
see.”
Up
until
now,
Herschmann
has
been
correct.
But
since
Freeman
and
Moss
own
Rudy’s
debts,
they
moved
the
court
for
an
order
allowing
them
to
collect
on
the
unpaid
legal
bills.
Giuliani
countered
that
the
court
should
stay
enforcement
until
after
the
election,
lest
his
creditors
“use
this
assignment
for
an
improper,
political
(or,
at
least,
collateral)
purpose,
creating
the
confusing,
and
inaccurate,
appearance
that
Defendant
is
now
somehow
suing
candidate
Trump,
thereby
generating
an
accompanying,
and
unnecessary,
media
frenzy.”
He
also
made
a
very
funny
series
of
claims
as
to
why
Freeman
and
Moss
should
be
barred
from
seizing
his
irreplaceable
“memorabilia,”
including
a
1980
Mercedes
alleged
to
have
belonged
to
the
actress
Lauren
Bacall.
Judge
Liman
was
deeply
unimpressed
with
Giuliani’s
suggestion
that
forcing
him
to
face
the
repercussions
of
his
lies
about
the
2020
election
would
amount
to
election
interference
in
2024.
“The
profound
irony
manifest
in
Defendant’s
alleged
concern
is
not
lost
on
the
Court,”
the
judge
wrote,
adding
that
“the
risk—if
any—that
the
public
would
be
misled
could
come
only
from
Defendant
himself
or
from
those
who
wish
the
Plaintiffs
not
to
pursue
their
claim.
But
that
is
not
a
risk
that
would
permit
Defendant
to
retain
his
claim,
nor
does
it
suffice
to
prevent
Plaintiffs
from
pursuing
a
claim
for
compensation
that
justly
belongs,
and
is
owed,
to
them.”
And
Rudy’s
not
keeping
the
Merc
either.
The
Court
also
does
not
doubt
that
certain
of
the
items
may
have
sentimental
value
to
Defendant.
But
that
does
not
entitle
Defendant
to
continued
enjoyment
of
the
assets
to
the
detriment
of
the
Plaintiffs
to
whom
he
owes
approximately
$150
million.
It
is,
after
all,
the
underlying
policy
of
these
New
York
statutes
that
“no
man
should
be
permitted
to
live
at
the
same
time
in
luxury
and
in
debt.”
Ah,
well.
They
can
take
his
18
watches
and
his
unpaid
legal
bills,
but
they’ll
never
take
his
dign—
HAHAHAHA,
nevermind.
Freeman
v.
Giuliani
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.
Kathryn
Ken