ATLANTA — Rudy Giuliani is "not contesting" accusations that he made false statements against two Fulton County elections workers while acting as an attorney for President Donald Trump during the 2020 election.
The rare, legal maneuver was part of a court filing Tuesday night to fend off the defamation lawsuit filed by mother-daughter duo Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss against Giuliani in December 2021.
Giuliani said that "solely for the purposes of this litigation" the statements he made about Freeman and Moss carry "meaning that is defamatory per se," and that "to the extent the statements were statements of fact and otherwise actionable, such actionable statements were false."
However, Giuliani's filing also states that he's not "admitting to the truth of (their) allegations."
Freeman and Moss were subjected to death threats as a result of the claims made by Giuliani and other Trump allies.
The duo, they alleged, mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta, and that it was part of larger election fraud that handed Joe Biden victory in Georgia.
Giuliani claimed in the filing that his statements regarding the pair were "constitutionally protected." He also rejected claims that his statements caused Freeman or Moss any damages — a key element required in defamation cases for the duo to receive a judgment.
Several Atlanta attorneys who spoke with 11Alive said the filing is not your typical legal motion.
A portion of Giuliani's filing — called a nolo contendere stipulation — is typically used in criminal cases, not civil.
"A no lo contendere plea says that the defendant does not want to contest the particular allegations and is defending the claim on other grounds," said attorney Bruce Brown, who has experience with First Amendment litigation, including defamation. "I have never seen it in a civil case like this one, but its effect is probably the same. He is not going to contest that he made the statements, that they were false, and that they are defamatory. By making this statement, Guiliani hopes to avoid the cost of litigating these factual issues and will focus his defense on other arguments."
In a statement, Giuliani advisor Ted Goodman said the filing is designed to get to the legal issues of the case.
"Mayor Rudy Giuliani did not acknowledge that the statements were false but did not contest it in order to move on to the portion of the case that will permit a motion to dismiss," he said.
Giuliani's filings came in response to a motion for attorneys representing Freeman and Moss. The pair were seeking sanctions against Giuliani for allegedly failing to preserve and provide electronic evidence as part of the discovery process in the lawsuit.
Freeman and Moss said they "brought this lawsuit to clear their names and hold Defendant Giuliani accountable for besmirching their reputations and brazenly disregarding the truth."
"The time allotted for discovery in this case has concluded," it states, adding that Giuliani's "only defenses" appear to be that his allegations were "non-actionable opinion" and that he did not act with negligence or "actual malice" in making his statements.
Attorneys for the pair said there must be "discovery into whether a defendant in fact knew that his or her claims were false or recklessly disregarded the truth." But, they claimed, Giuliani had not been fully forthcoming with all the evidence of his communications that might indicate whether he knew his claims were false.
Giuliani's filing disputes that, essentially arguing any other records Freeman and Moss might seek from him were in fact taken by the government as part of a previous investigation. He also argues Freeman and Moss do not need any additional records from him, because of his "concession of facts" regarding his statements.
Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani after he, Trump, and other allies of the former president targeted them, pushing accusations about "suitcases full of ballots" at State Farm Arena. Officials at the Secretary of State's Office debunked the claims almost immediately, but Giuliani didn't stand down. He repeated the claims about the pair in television appearances and on his own podcasts.
The Georgia State Election Board closed that case earlier this summer, finding claims related to that night were "false and unsubstantiated."