Thread by @kyledcheney

HAPPENING NOW: Rudy Giuliani is back in federal court (on time today) for the second day of his defamation damages trial. We’re likely to see testimony today from Ruby Freeman and/or Shaye Moss as well as their expert who will advocate for a multimillion award.

Off to an auspicious start again. Howell upbraiding Giuliani and his attorney for indecipherable objections to exhibits. "Your objections have to be intelligible," she advises.

MORE: Howell now scolding Giuliani for his comments outside the courthouse yesterday saying they "could support another defamation claim."

Giuliani said outside the court that his false allegations bout Freeman/Moss are both true. "Of course I don’t regret it."

HOWELL is incredulous: How could Giuliani's lawyer say Freeman/Moss are "good people" who didn't deserve what happened to them when Rudy is outside the courthouse saying they are criminals.

"I’m not sure how it’s reconcilable," Giuliani's lawyer Joe Sibley admits.

SIBLEY now says it's Giuliani's age that's at issue.

"This has taken a bit of a toll on him. He’s almost 80 years old. I think he was sitting here all day at trial at his age," Sibley says.

HOWELL says Rudy seems to be paying close attention and be responsive to questions, so his capacity doesn't seem at issue.

"Can he follow instructions?" Howell asks.

"The answer, of course, is yes," Sibley says.

She's wondering if he can follow court orders when testifying.

SIBLEY seems to largely agree with Howell's interpretation of the issue and is straining to defend Giuliani's conduct and commentary outside the courthouse. He repeatedly emphasizes that he can't control what Rudy does out of court.

NOW: The jury is in. Plaintiffs are preparing to play a video deposition from Georgia election investigator Frank Braun to help establish that the allegations against Moss/Freeman were debunked.

BRAUN, in deposition, explains that the reason Fulton County workers returned to counting ballots after observers had left was because of a late call from the SoS's office telling them they couldn't go home until they finished the batches they had already begun.

NOW: Plaintiffs are going to play a video deposition of Frances WATSON, another Georgia election investigator (who famously got a call from Donald Trump) in 2020.

WATSON describing what she saw on State Farm Arena video that Giuliani/Trump and others have falsely claimed as evidence of election fraud:

WATSON also repeatedly emphasizes that no observers were kicked out. They left when the election workers started to wrap for the night. But then those workers were ordered by the state to continue counting.

WATSON also says the myth of the water main leak was a relatively minor incident in a discreet area of the arena. Workers moved quickly to ensure no equipment or ballots were compromied by the leak. None were and the counting/tabulating continued.

NEW: Judge Howell says Giuliani may have defamed two Georgia election workers yet again in defiant comments outside DC federal courthouse yesterday.

politico.com/news/2023/12/1…

WATSON explains that sometimes workers needed to scan batches of ballots more than once, per their training ,to ensure accuracy. But the ballots are only *tabulated* once. Investigators confirmed logs showed no double-counting of ballots.

HAPPENING NOW: Shaye MOSS is preparing to take the stand after a brief break.

MOSS Is on the stand. She appears nervous but smiles to the jury and introduces herself as a 39 year old mom and former election worker.

MOSS now describing her joy when -- after 5 years as a temp -- she was hired as a permanent election worker in Fulton County.

"It was like winning a golden ticket in Willie Wonka," she said.

"I loved my job so much," she said, choking up.

Q: What does the date Dec. 4, 2020 mean to you

MOSS: "That was the day that everything changed, everything in my life changed. The day that I changed. Everything just flipped upside down."

"Crazy lies were spread about me and my mom."

Here's how MOSS described the moment on Dec. 4, 2020 that she realized that she was the subject of a smear campaign about her work on the election.

MOSS now watching the State Farm Arena video that Giuliani made a centerpiece of his false election fraud claims.

Q: What does the video actually show?

MOSS: The video shows us working very hard to ensure everyone's vote is counted.

MOSS, asked her reaction to a Dec. 4, 2020 video of Rudy accusing her of fraud:

“My reaction is how can someone with so much power go public and talk about things that he obviously has no clue about? It’s just obvious that it’s lies. It’s hurtful. It’s untrue, and it’s unfair.”

As threats and racist attacks began to pour in, MOSS describes immediately going to a hair stylist and asking to change her appearance so she couldn't be identified.

MORE from Moss on her decision to leave her job in the election office as the impact of the false attacks on her continued to percolate.

MOSS describes trying to get a job at Chik-Fil-A but walking out after the interviewer asked her about the fraud allegations and held up an article on his laptop:

MOSS now describing impact on her family. Pepole barged into her grandmother's home trying to make a "citizen's arrest," she says. They sent her grandmother pizzas under racist names. Her 14-year-old son's grades started slipping. He got deluged with messages on his phone too.

Q: Has Mr. Giuliani ever apologized to you?

MOSS: No ... He was just spreading lies about us last night.

[Giuliani's lawyer objects. Bench conference underway]

Looks like Moss' side won the argument. Howell permits her to discuss Rudy's comments from yesterday:

NEW: Shaye Moss described living with fear, panic and threats from the moment Rudy Giuliani began spreading lies — amplified by Donald Trump about her actions in 2020.

“Every single aspect of my life has changed.”

w/ @joshgerstein

politico.com/news/2023/12/1…

HOWELL now pressing Giuliani's lawyer about whether he plans to testify about his net worth despite refusing to provide any evidence of his assets.

Sibley says, he doesn't think so.

"This is not a platform for pontificating or spreading lies," Howell says.

SIBLEY says he warned Giuliani that if he testifies about anything the judge has ordered him not to bring up, he could be held in contempt.

"Contempt has been a running theme throughout this case," Howell replies.

NOW: Shaye MOSS has retaken the stand for cross-examination from Giuliani's attorney Joe Sibley.

SIBLEY BEGINS: "My client, as you saw last night, likes to talk a lot unfortunately."

SIBLEY: "There was a suggestion that people who wanted to observe [vote counting] were excluded."

MOSS: "I recall those lies."

SIBLEY now noting that the Gateway Pundit was the first outlet to publish State Farm Arena video that Rudy Giuliani later posted.

SIBLEY emphasizing that it wasn't just Rudy spreading lies, it was also Trump campaign, OANN, Gateway Pundit and others.

MOSS: "Mr. Giuliani was just driving the bus and they were helping spread his lies."

SIBLEY pressing Moss on why she's seeking a large financial award from Giuliani. Moss: “I want to receive some type of justice for everything me and my family have been through.”

SIBLEY asks Moss how she estimates the amount of money she'll need to repair her reputation.

"It’s kind of hard to do that when there are extremely powerful people still spewing lies about me."

MOSS says goal is also deterrence: “By hitting someone in the pockets, especially someone whose whole career is about their pockets, that will leave an impression about the next person who tries to spew lies about the next election worker.”

SIBLEY: Why don’t you have enough money to repair your reputation?

MOSS: Because your client is still lying on me and ruining my reputation further ... How could you work in law if everyone is saying you’re a horrible lawyer?

SIBLEY: You’d be surprised actually.

SIBLEY, noting the racist messages Moss received, asks whether Giuliani made any race-based comments.

"He assumed that because we are black we are Dems," Moss said, saying, "He doesn't know me from a hole in the wall."

MOSS, who has not mentione Trump much, does so when pressed by Sibley about whether her doctors tied her anxiety/depression to Giuliani.

“It started with Trump and his allies — meaning Rudy Giuliani and his crew were the start of it all. They lit the torch.”

NOW: Moss' lawyers are doing redirect.

Q: "Are you aware that Mr. Giuliani ... accused you of being like a drug dealer, that he accused you of passing vials of heroin and cocain? What does that make you think?"

MOSS: "That’s what he thinks about black folks."

MOSS' testimony is done. Now plaintiffs will play excerpts from Bernie KERIK's deposition testimony.

KERIK excerpt was all about drafting and dissemination of the "Rudy Giuliani Strategic Communications Plan," a last ditch strategy to overurn the election which included references to Moss and Freeman.

Now we've moved on to Christina BOBB deposition excerpts.

BOBB says she was put in touch with Rudy Giuliani after the 2020 election by Chanel Rion of One America News.

Plaintiffs showing BOBB getting a text from Giuliani on Dec. 4, 2020 asking her. tosent Arizona House SPeaker Rusty Bowers a copy of the Georgia surveillance video featuring Freeman/Moss. Bobb wrote to Bowers and sent video to him calling it proof of "illegal ballot stuffing."

BOBB excerpts are done. Now plaintiffs playing Jenna ELLIS deposition excerpts.

Plaintiffs displayed for Ellis her agreement with Colorado bar officials in which she admitted she made false representations about election fraud in 2020.

The lawyers asked if she stood by the agreement. Ellis pleaded the Fifth.

We're approaching 18 minute of Ellis repeatedly pleading the Fifth. Plaintiffs have already disclosed that she pleaded the Fifth about 308 times in her deposition. Ray Smith, a Georgia attorney for Trump, pleaded the Fifth more than 400 times as well, the lawyers revealed.

GIULIANI COURTHOUSE UPDATE:

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1734701006330421249