Rudy Giuliani calls himself a Christian 'battling five lions in Colosseum' amid defamation lawsuit, Internet drags him for religious analogy

WASHINGTON, DC: Former NYC mayor Rudolph W Giuliani is facing a defamation suit filed against him by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss in a civil trial in Federal District Court in Washington.

The judge, Beryl A Howell, has already ruled that Giuliani defamed the two workers and was found to have intentionally inflicted emotional distress on them, engaging in a conspiracy with others when he publicly accused them of election fraud related to their work of counting absentee ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta for the Fulton County Board of Elections on November 3, 2020.

According to The New York Times, Giuliani’s lawyer Joseph Sibley IV claimed that the tens of millions of dollars in damages the election workers were seeking would be the end of Giuliani, similar to a civil death penalty.

A jury of eight will determine how much Giuliani should have to pay them for the harm he caused.

The women's lawyers presented social media posts, laden with expletives, racial slurs, accusations of treason, and threats, some calling for them to be lynched.

What was Giuliani’s defense against such expletive accusations?

Michael J Gottlieb, a lawyer for the women who are mother and daughter by relation, said that Giuliani's false accusations led to a "campaign of defamation and emotional terror" against them, leading to thousands of threats that followed.

Gottlieb said in his opening statement, “Their names have become synonymous with crime, cheating and fraud. How much is somebody’s reputation worth?”

Georgia's State Election Board conducted a yearslong investigation into Giuliani's claims and officially cleared Freeman and Moss in 2022.

Even though Georgia officials promptly refuted Giuliani's claims in 2020, he repeated them so frequently that Freeman became one of Trump's favorite enemies and targets to go after in his political speeches.

Giuliani's lawyer said that there was no question that Freeman and Moss did not deserve what happened to them, but that the harm inflicted on them was not all Giuliani's fault.

“You’re going to see a lot of evidence of harm, but not much evidence that Mr Giuliani was the cause,” Sibley explained.

The plaintiffs' first witness was Regina Scott, a consultant who led a team hired to track the threats against the women.

Scott’s risk-consulting firm, Jensen Hughes, found that in most cases the election workers' names were mentioned in a negative context.

However, Sibley pointed out that there was nothing in a majority of the posts distinctly connecting the comments to Giuliani.

Even though Judge Howell already ruled that Giuliani defamed the two women, their lawyers are presenting evidence of the attacks against them to try to convince the jury that their compensation should be significant.

Freeman and Moss are seeking compensatory damages between $15.5 million and $43 million in the trial that is expected to last a week, where Giuliani, Freeman, and Moss are all set to testify.

Any amount of financial compensation is sure to throw Giuliani deeper into financial distress as he already owes money to lawyers who have represented him in other matters related to his post-election efforts to undermine President Biden's victory in 2020.

Disciplinary actions against him prevent him from working as a lawyer and he faces disbarment.

Giuliani has previously annoyed Judge Howell by being a no-show for one of the final court hearings in the case and refusing to comply with routine trial obligations, including providing documents that would disclose his net worth and estimate the scope of his media reach through his podcast and other programs.

Last week, the judge reprimanded Giuliani for asking that she, not a jury, hear the trial.

What did Rudy Giuliani say coming out of the courtroom?

Giuliani addressed the bind he was currently in outside the courthouse on Monday and assured his followers that he was like a Christian battling five lions in the Roman Colosseum.

Giuliani said, “When you're the Christian in the lion's den in the Colosseum and the five lions are attacking you, you can't play diddly winks. We don't play diddly winks.”

“You'll see. Just have faith and confidence. They had a good time today by just talking and talking and talking. And we'll have a good time later by proving, improving,” he said. “Have we won every battle with them on who's telling the truth? Yes," he added.

Internet unimpressed with Rudy Giuliani's religion analogy

People on X were not pleased with Rudy Giuliani's glowing praise about himself and his religious analogy intended to rally his supporters behind his lost cause.

One X user said, “Hasn’t he already lost? We just don’t know how “badly” he’s lost."

Another user stated, "Apparently, he and his lawyer are going to attempt to “prove” Moss and Freeman did what he said they did. The judge will not allow this, given that he’s already been found liable by default. Then Rudy will say he was railroaded by a corrupt judge. The grift goes on."

Another user remarked, "I suspect that the lions will have Rudy for supper."

One user tweeted, "Playing the Christian card eh? They're jumping on that band wagon on a regular basis now aren't they."

Another X user wrote, "Not really on top, since he's already been judged guilty and this trial is just about damages."

One user tweeted, "It’s always the worst people who use religion to defend themselves."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.