Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rudy Giuliani has agreed to stop telling lies about defamed Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss.
In a Tuesday stipulation filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the former New York City mayor agreed to a permanent injunction on defamatory speech targeting the mother-daughter duo. The agreed-upon court filing also waives Giuliani’s right to appeal or otherwise challenge the order once it is entered.
The upshot of the stipulation is that any forthcoming defamatory statements would short-circuit the legal process and allow Freeman and Moss to sue Giuliani relatively expediently.
In December 2023, the two women won a $148 million default defamation verdict over a campaign against the women in which Giuliani falsely proclaimed the pair were engaged in fraud and had “cheated” voters during the 2020 presidential election.
Those lies were rebroadcast by former President Donald Trump — and others in his orbit — and shared far and wide. Despite being quickly and thoroughly debunked, the lies were seized upon by adherents of the 45th president, leading to hundreds of death threats — many of them racist — against the mother and daughter, who are Black.
Since then, Giuliani has continued to repeat similar allegations against both Freeman and Moss on his since-canceled radio show.
Earlier this month, Freeman and Moss filed a complaint seeking injunctive relief to “permanently” bar Giuliani from “repeating the defamatory statements for which he has been held liable” in the defamation lawsuit as well as “any substantially similar statements.”
“Mr. Giuliani’s persistence in making these statements after all that has transpired, coupled with his refusal to agree to refrain from continuing to make such statements, make clear that he intends to continue in his campaign of targeted defamation and harassment,” the 13-page filing reads. “Accordingly, there is an overwhelming, ongoing, and imminent risk that Mr. Giuliani will inflict substantial.”
In Tuesday’s stipulation, the former U.S. Attorney waved the white flag.
“Plaintiffs commenced this civil action by filing a Complaint seeking injunctive relief restraining Defendant from repeating the Actionable Statements adjudged to be false and defamatory in the Freeman Litigation, or any substantially similar statements,” the filing reads. “Defendant consents to ent1y of final judgment and permanent injunctive relief in favor of Plaintiffs in this action in the form of the Proposed Consent Judgment.”
While the stipulation only vaguely refers to the kinds of comments Giuliani will soon be court-ordered not to make, the filing also contains a draft of the proposed court order that will curb his speech. That agreement will have to be signed off on by a federal judge.
According to the proposed order, Giuliani will be permanently enjoined “from publishing, causing others to publish, and/or assisting in others’ publication” of any statements “that suggest that Plaintiffs, whether mentioned directly, indirectly, or by implication, engaged in wrongdoing in connection with the 2020 presidential election.”
The proposal would also permanently bar Giuliani from repeating, helping, or causing others to repeat the statements he was already found liable for “or any other statements conveying the same defamatory meaning.”
The order also contains over six pages of such comments that Giuliani will specifically be disallowed from repeating.
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