Rudy Giuliani, the longtime ally to Trump who was prominently involved in spreading lies about the integrity of the last presidential election, was evidently put under oath this week (on Wednesday) for a deposition amid a lawsuit from two former poll workers in Georgia who were the subject of repeated lies from Trump’s corner about the 2020 elections.
Those Georgia women, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, helped with handling the election results in 2020 from the Atlanta area and were targeted in conspiracy theories about so-called suitcases of ballots that some falsely said were surreptitiously added to local totals. The claimed suitcases — a description that obviously in itself suggests illegality — weren’t luggage at all but the normal containers for ballots, although even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) brought back up the conspiracy theory in a recent rant inside a gathering of the House organization known as the Election Integrity Caucus that also saw Gabriel Sterling of the office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in attendance.
Greene also raised similarly debunked allegations of large numbers of ballots cast in the names of deceased individuals. Many investigations disproving the narrative of widespread fraud were conducted.
As for Freeman and Moss, they, like others, faced threats of violence after becoming the subject of delusions from Giuliani and others in Trump’s camp after the election. Some even showed up at a family residence (Freeman is Moss’s mother) and sought to conduct a so-called citizen’s arrest, something that no doubt could have turned into what was essentially a violent kidnapping had the women actually been present. It’s worth noting Freeman and Moss are Black. Many of the voters, like Detroiters and Philadelphians, swept into lies of fraud from Trump and his goons were also from historically marginalized communities.
The Daily Beast reported on a January letter from the legal representation for Moss and Freeman challenging objections that Giuliani raised to answering certain questions from the House committee that investigated the Capitol riot. “Mr. Giuliani invoked privilege during January 6 testimony with respect to certain topics we expect to broach during his… deposition,” that letter said. Although The Daily Beast didn’t have a lot of details about how that deposition, now conducted, actually went, the publication did note how the lack of a specific deadline for the litigation from Moss and Freeman means they have the opportunity to litigate over any potential challenges from Rudy. The former election workers’ defense indicated no doubt expected interest in Giuliani’s communications with both Trump and the Justice Department. Other evident areas of interest included Sidney Powell and pressure on state legislators, before whom Giuliani repeatedly appeared after the 2020 election.
