Rudy Giuliani held in contempt of court for repeating false claims about defamed election workers

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Rudy Giuliani was ordered to appear at a contempt hearing in Washington, D.C., on January 10 for repeatedly attacking election workers he defamed, marking his second contempt hearing that week “The public should know that Mayor Rudy Giuliani never had the opportunity to defend himself on the facts in the defamation case,” he said in a statement with his spokesperson Ted Goodman. open image in gallery A court sketch depicts Giuliani appearing remotely for his contempt hearing in New York on January 6 Attorneys for the two women also asked the judge overseeing their initial defamation case in Washington to hold him in contempt for “brazenly violating” the court’s terms against repeating his defamatory statements. A court order prohibits Giuliani “from publishing, causing others to publish, and/or assisting in others’ publication of … any statements that suggest that Plaintiffs, whether mentioned directly, indirectly, or by implication, engaged in wrong-doing in connection with the 2020 presidential election.” He is also prohibited from making “other statements conveying the same defamatory meaning.” Giuliani recently accused the women of “quadruple counting the ballots” and “passing hard drives that we maintain were used to fix” voting machines — echoing similar claims that landed him in a trial court for defamation in 2023. Two days before his Washington hearing, Giuliani’s attorneys asked if he could appear remotely from Florida, citing “a number of medical conditions” including “severe knee conditions” and “a lung condition that requires the use of an inhaler.” His attorney wrote that it was “reasonable” to limit his travel “as one of the more outspoken critics of the current Iranian regime, at a time of heightened terrorism concerns.” open image in gallery Giuliani faces contempt sanctions in New York and Washington for false claims and lack of cooperation with document requests and deadlines in cases stemming from a blockbuster defamation judgment against him Judge Howell sought to call his bluff and asked him to submit “a sworn declaration, under penalty of perjury,” that he “has been unable to travel and has not traveled from his residence in Florida” within the past 30 days and does not intend to in the next 30 days.