Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer tells court awarding millions of dollars in damages would be like ‘death penalty’ for his client – as it happened

The first witness is now off the stand and jurors have been dismissed for the day. We’re now closing the blog but here is a recap of what happened today:

• The federal trial to determine how much Rudy Giuliani will pay in damages began on Monday. Giuliani was found liable for defamation for false comments he made about two Georgia election workers after the 2020 election.

• Eight jurors were seated in Giuliani’s defamation case. Jurors were asked several questions, including, “Do you believe that Joseph R Biden’s election as president of the United States in 2020 was illegitimate?” and “Have you ever used the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” or the term or hashtag “WWG1WGA”?

• Giuliani knowingly spread lies about two Atlanta election workers as “as a cornerstone of a call to action” to overturn the 2020 election, Von DuBose, a lawyer representing Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss said in his opening statement on Monday. He also said the case was about “names that have been disgraced”.

• The plaintiffs have asked for damages between $15m and $43m. Giuliani’s attorney said awarding them this level of payout would be like the “death penalty” for his client. He added that “it will be the end of Mr Giuliani”.

• Special counsel prosecutors asked the US supreme court on Monday to make an expedited decision on if Donald Trump can be criminally prosecuted on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

• Opening statements in Giuliani’s defamation case were heard today. The lawyer for the claimants argued that the case was ‘about names that have been disgraced’. Meanwhile, Giuliani’s lawyers argued that awarding tens of millions of dollars in damages for defamation would be a “death penalty” for the ex-Trump lawyer.

You can read our latest full report on Giuliani’s trial here:

And here’s our latest on Trump’s federal election interference case:

Thank you for reading! See you for more updates tomorrow.

Joseph Sibley, Giuliani’s lawyer is pressing Regina Scott on the specific qualifications she and her firm have to put together a report assessing online threats against Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

The purpose of his questioning appears to undermine analyses her firm did on the volume of threats Freeman and Moss faced after the 2020 election.

US district judge Beryl Howell has been patient with Sibley so far, but appears to be losing some of her tolerance. The first day of the trial is scheduled to wrap up in about 20 minutes.

11 Dec 202316.35 EST

Why is the case taking place in a Washington DC courtroom?

Sam Levine

Lawyers for Freeman and Moss filed the case in Washington DC because it involves a dispute between citizens of different states and because Giuliani “made defamatory statements that were produced and published in the District of Columbia”. The decision to hold the case in Washington DC is also of strategic advantage to Moss and Freeman because the jury pool is extremely unlikely to be friendly to Trump (the city voted for Biden 93-5 in 2020). Giuliani is likely to use that context to assail any adverse verdict in the case.

11 Dec 202316.28 EST

Why is this case important?

Sam Levine

The harassment of Freeman and Moss represents the best example of the human consequences of the lies Giuliani and other Trump allies spread after the election. Their lies have fueled a deep-seated distrust of American elections and prompted a wave of harassment since 2020 against election officials and workers – many of whom are leaving the profession. The trial offers a chance for two of the most prominent victims of election denialism to confront one of its biggest propagators.

Second, the case offers another significant attempt to hold a key actor accountable for spreading lies about the 2020 election. It is part of a suite of efforts, including the criminal charges Giuliani and others face in Georgia and the $787m settlement between Fox and the voting machine equipment vendor Dominion, seeking to bring consequences to those who told election lies.

11 Dec 202316.07 EST

Security expert Regina Scott called as first witness

Sam Levine

Regina Scott, a security expert with the firm Jensen Hughes, is up as the first witness in the defamation case seeking up to $43m from former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani after he defamed two Atlanta election workers.

Scott has monitored online threats and overseen the team handling security for Moss and Freeman. She is slated to testify about social media monitoring and negative commentary about Moss and Freeman since November of last year. She is currently being questioned by Von DuBose, one of Freeman and Moss’s lawyers.

Read more on Giuliani’s financial troubles as the trial to decide the amount he will pay in damages continues, from ABC News.

A deluge of civil and criminal lawsuits has left Giuliani experiencing what his attorney called “financial difficulties.”

The twin threats of potential legal exposure and an apparent depletion of resources could continue to compound in the months and perhaps years ahead, as the onetime attorney to former President Donald Trump battles the fallout from his activities in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

Next week, a Washington, D.C.-based jury will determine what penalties Giuliani will owe a pair of Georgia election workers he was found to have defamed. He is already on the hook for some $230,000, and the election workers are seeking between $15 million and $43 million at trial.

Giuliani stands to owe millions more if he loses cases brought by two voting machine companies and his own longtime personal attorney, and he faces an unrelated sexual harassment suit for $10 million from a former business associate.

In October, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden also sued Giuliani for unspecified damages, accusing him of mishandling personal data belonging to him.

Read the full article here.

11 Dec 202315.28 EST

Giuliani spread lies about Atlanta election workers as 'cornerstone of call to action' to overturn election, DuBose says

Sam Levine

Rudy Giuliani knowingly spread lies about two Atlanta election workers as “as a cornerstone of a call to action” to overturn the 2020 election, Von DuBose, a lawyer representing the women said in his opening statement on Monday.

Shortly after beginning his argument, DuBose played vile text messages Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss received after the 2020 election, which included death threats, racial slurs and wishes that the two women would go to jail. DuBose and the other lawyers for the two women are seeking to convince an eight-person jury that they should award Freeman and Moss anywhere between $15.5m and $43m in damages.

Previewing the evidence, he said jurors can expect to hear from Freeman about how people started showing up at her home in the middle of the night and ringing the doorbell and how she fled for her safety.

“The home she had lived in for more than 20 years – put her home on the market and left. Went to a place where no one could trace her name,” he said.

And he said Moss would detail she humiliation she felt as she looked for a new job.

She will testify about a job interview at the fast-food restaurant Chick-fil-A where an interviewer pulled up an article about Moss accusing her of election fraud and asked if it was her. Moss, he said, put down her head and walked out.

11 Dec 202315.25 EST

Giuliani's lawyer says awarding up to $43m in damages would be 'death penalty' for client

Sam Levine

More from the Guardian’s Sam Levine on opening statement from Giuliani’s lawyer.

A jury decision awarding tens of millions of dollars in damages for defamation would be a “death penalty” for Rudy Giuliani, his lawyer said during opening statements in a trial that got underway Monday.

Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are seeking between $15m and $43m in compensatory and punitive damages after Giuliani made false statements about them after the 2020 election. “If you award them what they are asking for, it will be the end of Mr Giuliani,” Joseph Sibley, Giuliani’s attorney said. Giuliani’s financial difficulties amid mounting legal troubles have been widely reported.

He acknowledged during his statement that Moss and Freeman were harmed and didn’t deserve the vile harassment they suffered after the 2020 election. But, he said, Giuliani was not directly responsible for it.

Giuliani’s lawyer is now delivering opening statements, arguing that awarding Freeman and Moss damages would be the “end” of Giuliani.

The plaintiffs are asking the jury to set damages between $15m and $43.5m as punishment for Giuliani’s “outrageous conduct”.

From the Guardian’s Sam Levine.

11 Dec 202314.54 EST

Sam Levine

The Guardian’s Sam Levine recapped a brief conversation he had with Giuliani, as the trial to decide the damages amount continues.

I briefly spoke with Rudy Giuliani after a lunch break in the proceedings. I asked him what it was like to be in the courtroom with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who have described the horrific harassment they endured after he made false statements about them in 2020.

Giuliani declined to comment, but said his team had a few surprises for the week long trial.

He spent lunch in the center of the cafeteria in the federal courthouse here with his spokesman, Ted Goodman, and his lawyer, Joseph Sibley.

In opening statements, lawyers for Freeman and Moss played vile voicemails the women received following Giuliani’s defamatory statements.

The voicemails included racial slurs and threats to burn down Freeman’s business.

From the Guardian’s Sam Levine:

Opening statements in Rudy Giuliani’s damages trial have started.

The weeklong trial will decide the amount of damages he will pay after being found liable for defamation.

From the Guardian’s Sam Levine:

“What’s in a name? Power purpose pride,” Von DuBose, a lawyer representing Freeman and Moss opened his statements. “It’s about names that have been disgraced…two names in particular. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. It’s about what their names mean today versus before Mr. Giuliani engaged in the conduct at issue in this case.”

Here is a link to Smith’s petition to the supreme court, from the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell:

The earliest the supreme court could decide on Smith’s petition over Trump’s immunity claim would be 5 January, the Associated Press reports.

Here’s more from AP:

The earliest court would consider the appeal would be Jan. 5, the date of the justices’ next scheduled private conference.

Underscoring the urgency for prosecutors in securing a quick resolution that can push the case forward, they wrote: “It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected.”

The move from Jack Smith, the special counsel, comes after the prosecutor warned that Trump’s trial could be indefinitely delayed as Trump claims he is immune from prosecution, Politico reports.

Smith wrote in court documents that Trump’s appeal to lower courts on immunity question would suspend his trial, scheduled for 4 March.

In a 14-page petition to the court, Smith wrote: “The United States recognizes that this is an extraordinary request. This is an extraordinary case”.

The latest update comes as after a federal judge rejected Trump’s claims on Friday that he should receive immunity for actions he did while still president.

Judge Tanya Chutkan simultaneously denied two motions from Tump for dismissal, which set the possibility for Trump to appeal the decision with the DC circuit court and, later, the US supreme court.

Prosecutors are asking the supreme court to decide on the question in order to get an expedited decision on the legal matter.

11 Dec 202313.00 EST

Supreme court asked to rule on Trump immunity claim for federal election case

Hugo Lowell

Special counsel prosecutors asked the US supreme court on Monday to make an expedited decision on whether Donald Trump can be criminally prosecuted on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The move comes after the federal judge overseeing the case rejected Trump’s arguments that he has absolute immunity from prosecution for acts that occurred while he was president.

Trump challenged the ruling to the DC circuit, but special counsel Jack Smith is now attempting to bypass the appeals court completely by asking the nation’s highest court to decide the matter.

My colleague Sam Levine is at the trial and reports that eight jurors have now been seated in the case.

They will have to determine how much Giuliani should pay in damages to two Atlanta election workers he defamed after the 2020 election:

According to Politico reporter Josh Gerstein, opening arguments are set for 1.30pm ET: