A Washington, D.C. jury’s determination Friday that Rudy Giuliani must pay $148 million to two Atlanta poll workers he defamed drew the outrage of Newsmax host Carl Higbie, who complained that the outcome was “outrageous” and “unwarranted.”
Higbie announced the news with a smarmy jab at U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling in August that Giuliani was liable for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy and punitive damages.
“Nearly $150 million to a pair of Atlanta election workers that he allegedly defamed,” Higbie began, calling it a “ridiculous” amount. “Folks, Rudy Giuliani doesn’t have $150 million to pay these people. That’s the first thing.”
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During opening statements this week, Giuliani’s lawyer told the eight-person jury that an award of $43 million in damages—what Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss had sought—would amount to a civil “death penalty” for his client, whose money troubles are growing more evident, seemingly by the day.
“The second thing is: this is a conviction by a jury, okay?” Higbie continued, before engaging in some Tucker Carlson-like framing of the jury’s unanimous decision.
“In this case, this is an attempt to make sure that nobody ever questions anything the Democrats don’t want you to ever again,” he griped. “That is what this is about. This is an attempt to silence people, to make them go away and never question the liberal narrative.”
“$150 million for questioning something as Rudy Giuliani did—I think it’s outrageous,” he said. “I’m not a lawyer, but I genuinely believe this is absolutely out of character, unwarranted, and completely unprecedented,” he said.
Friday’s development is far from the end of the road for Giuliani’s legal nightmares, of course, as he was indicted this summer in Georgia in a RICO case related to former President Donald Trump’s efforts to stay in office after he lost the 2020 election.
Speaking outside the courthouse Friday, the longtime Trump ally conspiratorially ranted that “the election of 2020 has to be exposed, because if not, our country will no longer be a democracy.”
Soon after, an onlooker in the crowd shouted: “You’re a liar, Rudy. You’ll die in prison.”
