Contemptible Giuliani Held In Contempt By Legal System, Everyone Else
A long overdue move if you ask us.
What a day of contrasts we witnessed on Monday.
In Washington, convicted felon Donald Trump’s coup attempt in 2021 was rewarded with Congress officially counting the electoral votes that will put him back in the Oval Office in 2025.
Meanwhile, in New York, Trumpian lickspittle Rudy Giuliani was finally held in contempt of court over his continuing efforts to weasel out of paying the $148 million civil penalty to two Georgia poll workers whose lives he trampled during his sweaty, hair-dye-soaked participation in said coup.
Fucked around and found out, Rudy did. And not even his brand-new Staten Island divorce lawyer could save him.
The poll workers, Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman, have been chasing the wizened little garden gnome from Florida to New York and back in their efforts to collect the $11 million in Giuliani’s assets that are likely all they will ever get of the $148 million a jury ruled they were entitled to. Giuliani, meanwhile, has done everything he can to delay transferring property or providing documents to the court. He cleaned valuables he was supposed to hand over out of his co-op apartment in New York before Freeman and Moss took possession of it. He blew off appointments to hand over paperwork transferring ownership of the apartment. And so on.
Giuliani has been such a pain in the ass that his last lawyers up and quit on him, leaving him scrambling to find anyone dumb enough to represent him in court. Finally, finally, the judge had enough:
“The defendant has been attempting to run out the clock,” Judge Liman said, adding that he was unmoved by the former mayor’s argument that he was overwhelmed with court requests, including charges in two criminal cases and several other civil actions. “The fact that he is a busy person and relied on others is not an excuse,” he said.
Your Honor, I am too busy fending off other lawsuits to fully cooperate with the settlement of this lawsuit. Judges love hearing that.
The hearing on Monday was specifically related to Giuliani’s refusal to cooperate with handing over his Florida condo, which he is now claiming is his primary residence. A trial to determine the condo’s fate starts on January 16. Meanwhile, Giuliani appeared in the New York courtroom via video from that condo, where he was sitting in front of a giant American flag. Very subtle!
The judge was unimpressed, perhaps because he knows every day Giuliani hangs on to the condo is one more day in which Freeman and Moss can’t start the long, difficult process of clearing out the stench of old man and Bengay.
But there were some other assets to discuss:
Mr. Giuliani said he had made progress in obtaining the title to the convertible that he must hand over to the women. But they have yet to receive that title.
That would be the vintage 1980 Mercedes once owned by Lauren Bacall that Rudy finally turned over to Freeman and Moss in November. But apparently he neglected to give them the actual title to the car, and has been claiming he was having trouble locating it. Which is absurd. A car that expensive and probably heavily insured and you don’t know what drawer you tossed the title into? We know exactly where the title is for our 2013 Honda Civic, and it is worth a hell of a lot less than a Mercedes.
Giuliani also has a collection of antique watches that he owns, or owned, since he turned them over to Freeman and Moss at the same time he finally relinquished the car. Except for one watch, which he told the court about on Monday:
Though he vowed he never meant to evade the judge’s orders, he conceded that he didn’t really want to give Freeman or Moss a gold pocket watch he inherited from his grandfather.
Giuliani said he was worried it would get lost.
“I’m not trying to hide it from anyone. I took it upon myself to put it in a safe place. It’s the one thing that means something to me,” he told the judge.
On Monday, when he appeared again, he held up the watch for the judge to see.
“I don’t how to get it to you. I don’t want to mail it,” he said.
Actually, we can’t really fault him for that, the mail these days is about as reliable as ... well, it’s about as reliable as Rudy Giuliani. We’re also not going to suggest he stick it up his keister for safekeeping. That’s already been done.
We actually had a moment of sympathy for old Hairdye O’Callahan there, who for a brief moment was simply an 80-year-old Florida retiree begging to be allowed to keep this one family heirloom in his autumn years, even as the justice system takes everything else.
Then we remembered that Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman got many, many death threats because of Giuliani, and any sympathy we had for him evaporated like a Social Security check at a Jupiter dog track.
Finally, the judge issued his decision to hold Giuliani in contempt of court. But he hasn’t yet decided on sanctions. Jail time is unlikely, no matter how much we might be rooting for it. At least someone high up might suffer some consequences for their January 6 actions.
[Huffington Post / New York Times]
Rudy actually has a legal defense fund, but wouldn’t you rather contribute to Wonkette?
More proof that when you are a Republican you get pass after pass after pass.
If a person of color did even one thing that Screwdy did they would have been tossed into jail for contempt.
FINALLY held in contempt.
Had he been Black, or poor, he'd be in jail right now.