Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the mother and daughter who served as election workers in the Atlanta area during the 2020 cycle and were named in debunked conspiracy theories alleging widespread election fraud, are seeking up to $43 million from Trump ally Rudy Giuliani at a forthcoming trial.
That’s according to a recent court filing. The trial will cover the question of the level of financial penalties to impose after the presiding judge found Giuliani liable for defamation as the duo alleged. The judge issued that decision amid failures by Giuliani to comply with the discovery process, in which he was expected to produce various documentation related to his rhetoric and financial state. Freeman and Moss faced threats to their safety and lives from evident believers as the conspiracy theories implicating them spread, spurred significantly by Giuliani.
The filing that outlines what Freeman and Moss will be hoping that a jury awards them also recaps some of the statements from Giuliani that are at issue, a list that includes commentary from the former mayor to the far-right network One America News.
“Georgia has the one video tape, I consider it like the Zapruder film was to the Kennedy assassination, this film will live for a hundred years. For a hundred years, this film will show that the, the 2020 presidential election, there was an attempt to steal it,” Giuliani said in remarks dated to the end of December 2020. He was referring evidently to footage that showed Freeman and Moss. Far-right allegations about what happened have included the notion there were so-called suitcases of ballots surreptitiously added to the count, but investigations found the ballots to be housed actually in standard containers.
And repeated investigations, even with federal involvement, have found nothing to the claims about Freeman and Moss. The other penalties the duo will be seeking at trial include “compensatory damages for the severe emotional distress caused by Defendant Giuliani and his co-conspirators between 2020 through present in an amount to be determined by the jury” and punitive damages, as recapped in the filing.
