'Outrageous and shameful': Judge admonishes Giuliani as he's held in contempt — again

Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt of court a second time, NBC News reported.

The ruling, which came after a tense hearing on Friday, is the latest in the former New York City mayor and Donald Trump ally's saga with Atlanta poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who won a $148 million default judgment against him over his defamatory allegations they tampered with ballots in the 2020 election in Georgia.

Giuliani, who lacks the financial resources to pay this judgment in full and faces the potential seizure of many of his assets, was already held in contempt of court once over failure to properly follow instructions during the discovery process of the suit.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who presided over the hearing, lost her patience with Giuliani, laying into him during the proceedings, noted Politico's Kyle Cheney.

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"It is outrageous and shameful that Mr. Giuliani suggests that he is the one being treated unfairly," said Howell, reminding him that Freeman and Moss lost jobs and were subject to death threats over his baseless allegations that they were passing around a flash drive full of fake ballots. "This takes real chutzpah, Mr. Giuliani."

Giuliani's lawyer, Ted Goodman, put out a statement in response to the contempt finding, accusing the legal system of being rigged against his client.

"The public should know that Mayor Rudy Giuliani never had the opportunity to defend himself on the facts in the defamation case," said Goodman, neglecting to mention that this was because Giuliani refused to turn over discovery documents required to mount his defense. "This is an important point that many Americans still don't realize due to biased coverage and a campaign to silence Mayor Giuliani. This contempt ruling is designed to prevent Mayor Giuliani from exercising his constitutional rights."