Rudy Giuliani was dealt another setback Tuesday ahead of his looming trial over whether he needs to turn over his Florida condo and World Series rings to the Georgia election workers he defamed when the judge refused to allow two last-minute witnesses to testify.
Judge Lewis Liman called the addition of witnesses Monsignor Alan Placa and Thomas Goodman, a Giuliani spokesman, a “thinly-veiled attempt to re-litigate my decision not to adjourn this trial.”
The Thursday bench trial will cover whether the Florida condo is Giuliani’s legal “homestead,” meaning he’d be homeless if it’s seized, and his continued ownership of three Yankees World Series rings from his time as mayor. He claims he has gifted the rings to his son, Andrew Giuliani.
The rings are locked away in Andrew Giuliani’s apartment bedroom closet, it came out at Tuesday’s hearing in Manhattan Federal Court. Giuliani did not attend the hearing.
Giuliani added Placa, a longtime friend and Catholic priest accused of child sexual abuse, to the witness list on Dec. 17, and Goodman on Dec. 23. Though both were deposed, neither produced a single discovery document to the election workers’ attorneys, Liman ruled Monday.
A third witness, Maria Ryan, is allowed to testify, since she produced an e-mail document and testified in her deposition that she didn’t have any others because she routinely deletes documents, Liman ruled.
Liman held Giuliani in civil contempt last week and granted civil sanctions, finding he withheld evidence from Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, whom he was found liable for defaming in December 2023. He’s ordered to pay the defamed mother and daughter around $148 million.
At a pre-trial hearing Tuesday, Giuliani lawyer Joseph Cammarata asked Liman to reconsider his decision, calling the two witnesses “critical” to the former New York City mayor’s defense, and said of Placa’s credibility, “He answers to a higher power than this court. … He answers to God, your Honor.”
That drew a sharp response from the judge, who pointed out that every witness in court must be treated equally, regardless of faith, political affiliation or gender.
“That’s so fundamental to our system of of justice,” Liman said. “That’s the way I’m going to judge your client. That’s the way I’m going to judge the plaintiffs. Everybody comes here equally.”
Cammarata also tried to argue that the election workers’ lawyers could have asked for a continuance, telling the judge, “the American people, the defendant, they want to know why this trial can’t go beyond Jan. 20.”
That’s the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Liman countered, “Sir, don’t argue to me about the American people,” adding that he intends to follow the law.
Giuliani, who is Donald Trump’s former lawyer, filed for bankruptcy after he was hit with the nine-figure judgment in December, automatically freezing all civil matters against him, but the matter was thrown out when he failed to be forthcoming about his finances.
The collection efforts by Freeman and Moss are among a long list of civil actions Giuliani faces. He’s been stripped of his ability to practice law, and faces criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona related to his alleged efforts to overthrow the results of the 2020 election.
