Rudy Giuliani's Sudden Absence From Court Sparks Questions

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani failed to appear at a hearing on Tuesday ahead of his defamation trial involving election workers, sparking questions from the Washington, D.C., federal judge overseeing the case.

Giuliani, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, is currently facing a lawsuit in D.C., in which Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss sued Giuliani after he made a series of false statements about their work at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, where ballots were being counted. He and other Trump allies are accused of falsely claiming the election workers—a mother-daughter duo—committed fraud by processing "suitcases" of illicit ballots.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell questioned Giuliani's lawyer, Joseph Sibley over the former mayor's absence, inquiring about whether they were ready for the trial that is set for next week.

Regarding the order for Giuliani to be present at the hearing, Howell asked Sibley, "How could you have missed that?" when he took the blame for Giuliani's absence.

"My mistake," Sibley replied, prompting Howell to ask whether he was "falling on his sword" for the former mayor.

Sibley responded by insisting he wasn't but rather that he simply had misunderstood Howell's order requiring Giuliani's presence at the hearing.

"Well, that sets the tone for this, doesn't it?" Howell said later adding that Giuliani's absence is "not a good start to the trial we're about to begin."

However, in response, in a statement emailed to Newsweek, Ted Goodman, political advisor to Giuliani said, "The judges' biases and prejudices are well known and have been demonstrated throughout this case and many others—where the process is the punishment. In the fullness of time, this will be looked at as a dark chapter in America's justice system as this whole process is doing great, irreparable harm," the statement said.

"I urge members of the legal community and all Americans—across the partisan political spectrum—to stand up and speak out against the weaponization of our justice system against political opponents. Because, while It may be President Trump, Mayor Giuliani, and others you disagree with politically today, it could be you and the people who share your beliefs tomorrow," Goodman added.

The hearing was scheduled to address last-minute logistics ahead of the trial, which is expected to begin Monday and will determine how much money Giuliani owes the two Georgia poll workers. The poll workers were both present in court in D.C. on Tuesday.

Howell continued to press Sibley on whether Giuliani would plead the Fifth, noting that several witnesses pleaded the Fifth hundreds of times in depositions conducted by Freeman and Moss' lawyers, including Jenna Ellis 448 times and Ray Smith, Jr. 309 times, according to Politico.

Sibley said Giuliani did not intend to plead the Fifth.

In addition, lawyers for Freeman and Moss told the judge that they plan to call four witnesses and present clips from several depositions. Among those deposed were two of Giuliani's co-defendants in the sweeping Georgia racketeering case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators, Ellis and Ray Smith III.

Giuliani's charges include falsely telling Georgia legislators that Freeman and Moss were "quite obviously" passing around USB drives to manipulate voting machines.

This is not the first time Giuliani has failed to follow the court's orders as he has previously failed to turn over evidence to the poll workers despite "repeated reminders" from the court. As a result, Howell, in August found the former New York City mayor civilly liable for their claims of "defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage."

"Given the willful shirking of his discovery obligations in anticipation of and during this litigation, Giuliani leaves little other choice," Howell wrote in her decision.

Update 12/6/23 12:46 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Ted Goodman.