New York's ex-mayor - Former Trump lawyer Giuliani must stand trial for lying about the 2020 election
A defamation trial has begun against former President Donald Trump's private lawyer Rudy Giuliani over allegations of fraud surrounding the 2020 US presidential election. A jury in the US capital Washington will decide how much compensation the former New York mayor must pay to two election workers from the state of Georgia.
The federal judge responsible, Beryl Howell, had already ruled in August that Giuliani was liable for defaming Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea Moss. Therefore, the only issue in the civil proceedings that have now begun is the amount of the payment that 79-year-old Giuliani is ordered to make. Freeman and Moss are demanding compensation for pain and suffering and damages of up to 43 million dollars (around 40 million euros).
Following Trump's election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020, Giuliani was a central figure in the unelected incumbent's attempts to overturn the outcome of the election and thus keep himself in office. The lawyer made accusations of election fraud, which have been refuted many times, and also targeted the election workers Freeman and Moss, who worked in Fulton County, which includes the city of Atlanta.
Moss, who is African-American, later testified as a witness before the parliamentary committee investigating the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021. She claimed to have been the target of "hateful" and "racist" threats of violence after false allegations of voter fraud were made against her. "This has turned my life upside down."
Trump hired Rudy Giuliani as a private attorney
Giuliani now has a number of legal problems. For example, he was indicted together with Trump in a criminal case in Atlanta on charges of election tampering.
Giuliani was once highly respected as mayor of New York and was even referred to as "America's mayor" after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Giuliani, who was born into an Italian immigrant family in the Brookyln district of New York in 1944, later became a loyal companion to Trump.
In April 2018, Trump hired the former public prosecutor as his private attorney. Following the Republican's defeat in the 2020 presidential election, Giuliani caused ridicule and malice with a series of bizarre appearances in which he denounced alleged electoral fraud. Giuliani has not worked for Trump for some time now.
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Source: www.stern.de
