Rudy Giuliani lost the lawsuit from election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman, and last week was ordered to pay nearly $150 million. The overall problem, however, is that due to his mounting legal troubles, Giuliani is quickly running out of cash and there's no way he can pay that sum.
It has prompted a question about whether the ladies can ever get anything for their suffering and even if they could go after Donald Trump.
Former prosecutor and University of Michigan law professor, Barb McQuade, warned that Freeman and Moss may "be able to chase Rudy Giuliani to his grave to catch every penny they can out of his pockets."
ALSO READ: 11 ways Donald Trump doesn't become president again
She began by explaining that it's difficult to know whether they'll ever get what they were allotted by the jury.
"One of the things that Rudy Giuliani refused to do was to disclose his assets," said McQuade. "That was part of the discovery violation that he made here. There is reporting that he gets money for his podcasts, that he has this 6 million dollar apartment, and he refused to allow them to see how much he had and where it is."
She explained that one option is to garnish any money that Giuliani is bringing in. The other option is to put a lien on his property, but it might be complicated because the IRS already has one on his Palm Beach condo for $550,000 in unpaid taxes.
Freeman said after the verdict on Friday that it wouldn't be the end of the road, and noted that other people also spread lies about the women.
McQuade explained that they "absolutely" have a case against Trump.
"There may be other people as well who also repeated these claims maybe less notoriously than Donald Trump, but Trump was out there front and center," said the legal expert. "His words, at least according to what we heard from Ruby Freeman at the Jan. 6 committee hearings, they directly went after her and cost her so much pain and suffering. There would have to be a separate trial [for Trump and] intent is a very important part of defamation. You would have to show that Donald Trump knew what he was saying was false. It seems that it would be just as easy to prove in his case as it was in the case of Rudy Giuliani. It will be a separate trial, but it seems like the issues are the same and it seems like they could seek additional damages from him as well."
Giuliani said he would appeal, but legal analysts warn that it isn't likely to work.
See the full discussion in the video below or at the link here.
MSNBC 12 17 2023 14 33 05youtu.be
