ATLANTA — A federal judge scolded former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday after Giuliani had an angry outburst during a court hearing as he tries to comply with an order requiring him to turn over most of his assets to two Fulton County election poll workers who won a libel case against him.
The outburst came as the judge questioned Giuliani’s lawyer about why Giuliani has not yet provided the title to a car he has relinquished in his effort to satisfy a $148 million defamation judgment won by two former Georgia election workers.
“Your client was the U.S. attorney for this district,” the judge said, referring to Giuliani’s years in the 1980s as the head of the federal prosecutor’s office in the Southern District of New York, as he suggested it was hard to believe that Giuliani was incapable of getting a duplicate title to the car.
Giuliani leaned forward and began speaking into a microphone, telling the judge he had applied for a duplicate copy of the car’s title but that it had not yet arrived.
“The implication I’ve been not diligent about it is totally incorrect,” Giuliani said in a scolding tone. “The implication you make is against me and every implication against me is wrong.”
Giuliani went on: “I’m not impoverished. Everything I have is tied up. I don’t have a car. I don’t have a credit card. I don’t have cash. I can’t get to bank accounts that truly would be mine because they have put ... stop orders on, for example, my Social Security account, which they have no right to do.”
RELATED STORIES:
- Former Fulton election workers say Rudy Giuliani continues to defame them, want more penalties
- Rudy Giuliani has turned over dozens of watches, Mercedes convertible to election workers
- Rudy Giuliani’s attorneys no longer want to represent him in $148M defamation case
- Rudy Giuliani starts fundraising page saying he ‘can’t buy food’ after checking account seized
Liman responded by warning defense lawyers that the next time Giuliani interrupts a hearing, “he’s not going to be permitted to speak and the court will take action.”
The judge said Giuliani could either choose to represent himself or let lawyers do so, but “you can’t have hybrid representation.”
If Giuliani wants to speak in court again, he can be put on the witness stand and be sworn as a witness, Liman added.
The exchange came at a hearing in which the judge refused to delay a Jan. 16 trial over the disposition of Giuliani’s Florida residence and World Series rings.
Those are two sets of assets that Giuliani is trying to shield from confiscation as part of Liman’s order to turn over many prized possessions to the poll workers.
Earlier in the proceeding, defense attorney Joseph M. Cammarata asked Liman to delay the trial, which will be heard without a jury, for a month because of Giuliani’s “involvement” in inauguration planning for President-elect Donald Trump.
“My client regularly consults and deals directly with President-elect Trump on issues that are taking place as the incoming administration is afoot as well as (the) inauguration,” Cammarata said. ”My client wants to exercise his political right to be there.”
The judge turned down the request, saying Giuliani’s “social calendar” was not a reason to postpone the trial.
Giuliani was found liable for defamation for falsely accusing Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss of ballot fraud as he pushed Trump’s unsubstantiated election fraud allegations during the 2020 campaign.
The women said they faced death threats after Giuliani accused them of sneaking in ballots in suitcases, counting ballots multiple times and tampering with voting machines.
Just last week, the women asked a federal judge to penalize Giuliani even further, saying he continues to falsely accuse them of tampering with ballots in the 2020 presidential election.
In the filing, it said Giuliani has been violating a consent injunction and has continued to defame the women on the show that he hosts on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“It took only six months for Mr. Giuliani to resume his defamatory campaign,” the document said.
During a recent episode of America’s Mayor Live, Giuliani is quoted as saying: “Judge Liman and the Biden people who are behind the case of the two women…You didn’t have $145 million in damages. In fact, there’s video of you doing what I said. We can play it for you if you want. You framed me. You had a judge who’s a bloodthirsty January 6 sentencer.”
So far, there has been no decision on Freeman and Moss’ request.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.