Judge Finds Giuliani in Contempt for Continued Defamation of Election Workers

A federal judge on Friday found Rudolph W. Giuliani in contempt of court for continuing to defame two Georgia women after the 2020 election.

In May, Mr. Giuliani, 80, agreed to stop repeating lies about the women, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, a mother-daughter team of 2020 election workers in Fulton County, Ga.

That agreement, Judge Beryl A. Howell of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said, was “clear and unambiguous.”

But in November, Mr. Giuliani repeated accusations against the women at least four times, after Donald J. Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Now he faces potential fines if he does not follow court orders and must cover costs related to the contempt request.

Outside the federal courthouse, Mr. Giuliani told reporters that Judge Howell was “bloodthirsty.”

“I know what a dishonest and dishonorable judge she is,” Mr. Giuliani said. “I shouldn’t be the one in contempt. She should be.”

The start of 2025 has been rough for Mr. Giuliani.

It was the second time in a week that he had been held in contempt. On Monday, a federal court in the Southern District of New York found him in contempt for his lack of cooperation in handing over his assets to Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss for the damage he caused to their reputations and lives.

The legal troubles that played out in two cities this week stem from lies he spread about Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss after the 2020 election, saying they had cheated when counting votes — allegations that were unsubstantiated in a subsequent investigation.

At the time, Mr. Giuliani was acting as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and spun that particular narrative in his bid to help Mr. Trump overturn the results.

That led to a $148 million judgment against him.

Judge Howell presided over the original defamation case, ultimately ruling he was liable for defaming the women in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Mr. Giuliani’s repeated refusal to respond to routine discovery requests and court orders did little to help his defense.

Faced with millions of dollars to pay to the workers, Mr. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in New York. His case was eventually dismissed after he continued to disregard his court obligations.

Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss quickly moved to seize his assets, worth about $11 million, the bulk of which are his apartment in New York and his condo in Florida.

Judge Lewis J. Liman, in New York, is overseeing the enforcement of the judgment and last year ordered Mr. Giuliani to hand over $11 million in assets to a receivership controlled by the Georgia women. But Mr. Giuliani has not been cooperative in that process either. He is set to go to trial in Judge Liman’s courtroom next week over assets he has yet to turn over.

During the hourslong proceeding on Friday, Judge Howell expressed exasperation with Mr. Giuliani.

“I have plenty of other work to do besides Mr. Giuliani and his conduct,” she said.

At times she conveyed disbelief at the arguments Mr. Giuliani’s lawyer, Eden P. Quainton, offered in defense of the comments Mr. Giuliani made in November about the women. Mr. Quainton said that Mr. Giuliani went months without re-defaming the women, and that his comments in November were brief.

Judge Howell replied, “Because he was good for a few months, we ought to excuse any bad behavior after that?”

The judge ordered Mr. Giuliani to file a sworn declaration, including that he had read all of the testimony and depositions in the first defamation case — putting him on record that he was afforded every bit of due process he was owed. She gave him a deadline of 10 days to file the sworn statement and said he would be charged $200 a day for each day past the deadline.

She warned Mr. Giuliani that continued disregard of her orders could land him in jail.

Mr. Giuliani appeared incredulous that she was able to issue such a thorough order without leaving her bench on Friday, suggesting that she had made up her mind before he even arrived in the courtroom. He questioned why she was so insistent that he appear in person; Mr. Giuliani had sought permission to appear virtually, citing his health conditions.

He said that he has two blocked coronary arteries, making travel difficult. His knees hurt, he added, and he is suffering from a lung condition that developed from inhaling the air around ground zero in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as mayor.

The heightened threat environment after the recent attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas made travel even more of a risk, he said, pointing to “two plotted attempts on my life.” But in footnotes in a filing, he referred to two news reports about the same event, a 2018 rally in Paris in which he was an attendee but was never reported to be a target.

Judge Howell was not persuaded and gave him an ultimatum that would prevent him from attending Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Mr. Trump has said he would issue a spate of pardons. But Mr. Giuliani is not expected to be among them; a president cannot issue pardons for civil lawsuits.