Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani “does not contest” claims from two Georgia election officials that he falsely accused them of engaging in election fraud during the 2020 election.
Giuliani said in a two-page court filing released on Wednesday morning, he did “not contest” statements he made about two Georgia election poll workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, “carry meaning that is defamatory,” according to the court filing.
“Mayor Rudy Giuliani did not acknowledge that the statements were false but did not contest it in order to move on to the portion of the case that will permit a motion to dismiss,” Ted Goodman, an aide for Giuliani, said in a statement, according to Politico. “This is a legal issue, not a factual issue. Those out to smear the mayor are ignoring the fact that this stipulation is designed to get to the legal issues of the case.”
Goodman explained by not contesting Giuliani’s statements carry “defamatory” meaning, it will allow them to skip the factual gathering stage of the case and move to the legal arguments as to whether he should be found liable regarding the damages Freeman and Moss are seeking, according to the outlet.
BREAKING overnight: Rudy Giuliani concedes in a court filing that he made “false” statements about Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and no longer contests the factual allegations in their defamation lawsuit.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 26, 2023
Details TK pic.twitter.com/HG7emDhEs7
Giuliani also admitted the statements he made met the “factual elements of liability” in Freeman’s and Moss’s claims that his attacks against them had amounted to or represented “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” according to the outlet.
This comes after Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani in early July for defamation after he failed to produce evidence related to former President Donald Trump‘s claims of election fraud.
In their lawsuit, Freeman and Moss claimed Giuliani had not taken “any steps, let alone reasonable steps” to provide evidence, citing an example of an email that Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn had sent asking for the “best examples of ‘election fraud'” that they had claimed. Epshteyn added that the examples didn’t necessarily “have to be proven.”
Freeman and Moss asked U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell to rule “default judgment” in their lawsuit against Giuliani.
In June, Freeman and Moss were cleared of claims they had committed election fraud during the 2020 presidential election, according to NBC News.
“There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere,” Freeman told the Jan. 6 committee in June 2022. “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one.”
Giuliani had his law license suspended in June 2021 after a New York court ruled he had made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” while helping to support Trump’s claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.