(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) An Obama-appointed judge appeared to be working in tandem with the FBI as part of a lawfare attack against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who acted as former President Donald Trump’s lawyer in his efforts to challenge the disputed 2020 election.
It was unclear whether U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell was deliberately working with the deep state to deny due process to Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, or if she was just following her own partisan instincts by finding him guilty for failing to produce evidence that Giuliani said the FBI had confiscated.
Specifically, Giuliani allegedly failed to give over all of his electronic devices, noted investigative reporter Joe Hoft.
On Wednesday, Howell ruled by default judgment that Giuliani was legally liable for defaming two Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, in the aftermath of the heavily disputed election. The case will now go to trial to determine just how much Giuliani must to pay in damages.
Under normal legal standards, the burden must fall on the plaintiffs to prove the falsity of the claims, as well as the material damages they incurred and the intent of willful negligence in the case of private citizens (which might be debatable for two public officials enmeshed in allegations of election rigging).
But none of those standards seemed to matter in Howell’s courtroom. According to the D.C. judge, Giuliani bore the burden of proof after violating her orders to produce the necessary evidence against the two workers.
Adding insult to injury, Howell likened the court case to the 2020 election and its aftermath, chiding Giuliani—who is also one of the 19 co-defendants in the Fulton County lawfare campaign being waged by District Attorney Fani Willis—for daring to investigate reports of corruption in the electoral system.
“Just as taking shortcuts to win an election carries risks—even potential criminal liability— bypassing the discovery process carries serious sanctions,” Howell wrote.
Giuliani contended that the FBI had taken the materials in question as part of a foreign-influence investigation related to his efforts to expose the Biden–Burisma scandal in Ukraine, Politico reported.
That probe did not result in any charges against Giuliani.
Nonetheless, “The FBI took every electronic device in my apartment and my law office,” Giuliani said at a May hearing for the defamation lawsuit.
He pointed out that given his extensive litigation background he knew better than to try to cut corners when it came to the discovery process, but that he was incapable of furnishing what he did not have.
“I’ve been dealing with this for 50 years,” he said. “I understand the obligation. . . There’s nothing I want to hide. I’d like them to see everything.”
The ruling was “a prime example of the weaponization of our justice system, where the process is the punishment,” said Ted Goodman, one of Giuliani’s advisors.
“This decision should be reversed, as Mayor Giuliani is wrongly accused of not preserving electronic evidence that was seized and held by the FBI,” he added.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
