What a difference a day makes.
On Wednesday, Rudy Giuliani told a federal judge in Washington, D.C. that it could be dangerous for him to attend an upcoming contempt hearing tied to his defamation case with election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss due to ongoing issues with his knee, heart and lungs, as well as what he said were death threats linked to his criticisms of Iran.
In response, U.S. District Beryl Howell gave Giuliani permission to attend the hearing remotely on one condition: He must declare, under penalty of perjury, that he cannot not travel anywhere because of those reasons and therefore would not travel for the next month — including over Trump’s inauguration.
She gave Giuliani until 2 p.m. Thursday to respond.
And respond he did.
In a declaration filed Thursday, Giuliani said it wasn’t that he said he couldn’t travel, it was just that he probably shouldn’t. His death threats were credible, he said, and he is definitely suffering various ailments that require him to take medication.
But, he lamented: “It currently appears that I will be required to appear in person for trial in the New York … starting on January 16, 2025. If it concludes before January 20th, I may travel to Washington, D.C. on the way home from Florida for the inauguration of President Trump, which will be a once-in-a-lifetime event in which I cannot participate by zoom, and for which there will be heightened security.”
“I did not represent that I do not or cannot travel, but that travel carries medical and security risks … and that there was therefore a compelling basis for my remote appearance. I had hoped the Court would understand and accommodate my needs. However, it appears I was mistaken. Because it is difficult to cancel my two evening broadcasting commitments, and last-minute travel arrangements are uncertain, I have decided to withdraw my motion to appear virtually and to be physically present for tomorrow’s hearing,” the declaration states.
Freeman and Moss have asked Howell to hold Giuliani in contempt because he has allegedly continued to defame them despite agreeing to stop under a court-ordered injunction.
Giuliani was already held in contempt for different reasons earlier this week in New York when he appeared before U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman. Liman said Giuliani had failed to surrender various assets that he is obligated to remit as a down payment to Freeman and Moss for the $148 million he owes them following a defamation judgment. That 2023 ruling found that Giuliani had spread lies about them after the 2020 election, including suggesting that they had tampered with the vote-counting process to benefit Democrat Joe Biden. As of Thursday, Liman had yet to specify what penalties Giuliani would face.
In Washington, Freeman and Moss have asked Howell to fine Giuliani whenever he makes another defamatory claim about them. In November, they told Howell that Giuliani’s verbal attacks hadn’t let up, and that he had recently made false claims about them on his livestream show. During one broadcast, Giuliani again claimed that the two women were seen on surveillance footage passing “little hard drives” to each other to “fix” vote-counting machines at State Farm Arena in Georgia’s Fulton County.
However, Moss testified to Congress that Freeman had simply passed her a ginger mint.
The women have left it up to Howell to decide how much the fines would cost if a new contempt order is imposed. Typically, civil contempt orders carry financial penalties, jail time or both.
On Wednesday, when Giuliani begged off attending the Friday hearing in person, his attorneys wrote, he is “80 years old and suffers from a number of medical conditions,” including “severe knee conditions” and “a lung condition that requires the use of an inhaler.”
“Moreover, Mayor Giuliani has had two stents inserted to deal with a 95% blockage in one coronary artery and an 85% blockage in the other coronary artery,” wrote attorneys Eden Quainton and Jonathan Gross.
They also said there have been “credible death threats” against Giuliani.
“As one of the more outspoken critics of the current Iranian regime, at a time of heightened terrorism concerns following the recent events in New Orleans and Las Vegas and the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran and its various proxies, it is reasonable to take extra precautions regarding Mayor Giuliani’s safety, and to limit travel whenever possible,” his attorneys wrote.
Howell said that for Giuliani to attend Friday’s hearing remotely, he would have to swear, under penalty of perjury, that “except for travel required for court proceedings, he has been unable to travel and has not traveled from his residence in Florida … in the past 30 days and that he remains unable to and will not travel in the next 30 days (i.e., the period from December 9, 2024, to February 7, 2025), due to these same medical conditions and security concerns.”