CNN analyst blasts Giuliani defense: ‘Single worst legal strategy ever devised’

CNN’s legal analyst Elie Honig went after Rudy Giuliani on Thursday, calling his defense from a defamation claim brought by a pair of 2020 Georgia election workers the “single worst legal strategy ever devised by a human mind.”

Giuliani falsely accused the two of conspiring in an effort to rig the vote, leading to waves of harassment for the women, their attorneys allege. They seek nearly $50 million in damages from Giuliani, who previously served on former President Trump’s legal team.

Honig said he expects a “massive” verdict against Giuliani, who has repeatedly doubled down on his false claims, refusing to show contrition.

“This case is really what happens when you combine vicious, over-the-top defamation against innocent victims with the single worst legal strategy ever devised by a human mind,” he said.

Giuliani was found liable for defamation in a default judgement in August after he refused to turn over evidence in discovery. The ongoing trial is set to determine damages.

The former New York City mayor was expected to testify in court, but he backed off that promise Thursday, a move Honig described as “the smartest decision he’s made in years.”

“If he had taken the stand, imagine what a catastrophe that would have been,” he said. “This man is a pathological liar. He can’t help himself.”

In court on Wednesday, election worker Ruby Freeman described systemic harassment against her since Giuliani made the election fraud claims.

“I have a house, and I can’t even go there; I don’t have nowhere to go,” she told jurors, adding that she ultimately moved but didn’t introduce herself to neighbors or put utility bills in her name out of fear. 

“What is my name today? Who am I today? What name am I gonna use?” Freeman said. “I can’t say who I am.”

On the first day of the defamation trial, Giuliani told reporters he didn’t regret making the allegations and that “everything I said” about Freeman and Shaye Moss “is true.”

“Mr. Giuliani has shown over and over and over again that he will not take our clients’ names out of his mouth,” attorney Michael Gottlieb said. “The facts do not, cannot, and will not stop him.”

Giuliani attorney Joseph Sibley urged the Washington, D.C., jury not to levy his client with significant penalties in closing arguments Thursday.

“I have no doubt that Mr. Giuliani’s statements caused harm; no question about it,” Sibley said. “But just because these things happened, it doesn’t make my client responsible for them.”

A jury could finish its deliberations in the case as soon as Friday.