Attacks on Election Workers: Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, and the $148 Million Defamation Verdict
Tier 1Resolved2020-12-03 to 2025-01-01
Factual Summary
Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, were Fulton County, Georgia election workers who processed absentee ballots during the 2020 presidential election. Beginning in December 2020, Donald Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani publicly and repeatedly accused the two women of committing ballot fraud during the vote counting at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
On December 3, 2020, Giuliani presented a brief, heavily edited clip of security camera footage to a Georgia state legislative committee, claiming it showed Freeman and Moss passing USB drives to one another "like vials of heroin or cocaine" and that the footage constituted evidence of ballot fraud. Moss later testified that the object Giuliani characterized as a USB drive was a ginger mint.
Trump amplified the accusations in a January 2, 2021 phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he named Freeman by name eighteen times and accused her of being "a professional vote scammer and hustler." The call, which was recorded and later made public, is separately documented in entries related to the Georgia election interference case.
The false accusations triggered a sustained campaign of threats and harassment against both women. Freeman and Moss testified before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol on June 21, 2022. In their testimony, both women described the devastating personal impact of the accusations. Moss testified that she seldom left her home, had changed her appearance to avoid recognition, and suffered from panic attacks. Freeman described strangers coming to her home and banging on her door, and stated that the FBI told her she was not safe and should leave her residence. She left her home for two months.
Freeman and Moss filed a defamation lawsuit against Giuliani in federal court. On August 30, 2023, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia ruled that Giuliani was liable for defamation, finding that his claims about the two women were false. The ruling came after Giuliani conceded that he could not support the factual basis for his statements. A separate trial on damages was held in December 2023.
On December 15, 2023, an eight-person federal jury awarded Freeman and Moss a total of $148,169,000 in damages: approximately $75 million in punitive damages and approximately $73 million in compensatory damages covering emotional distress, reputational harm, and lost income. The verdict was one of the largest defamation judgments in American history.
In January 2025, Giuliani reached a settlement agreement with Freeman and Moss, and the judgment was reported as fully satisfied. Giuliani had filed for bankruptcy during the proceedings and was forced to liquidate personal assets, including his Manhattan apartment.
Trump himself was not a defendant in the defamation lawsuit, though his role in originating and amplifying the false claims was documented in the proceedings.
Primary Sources
1. Protect Democracy: "Jury Awards Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss $148,169,000 in Damages," December 15, 2023: https://protectdemocracy.org/work/freeman-moss-giuliani-verdict/
2. House Select Committee, testimony of Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, June 21, 2022 (C-SPAN video and official transcript)
3. Trump-Raffensperger phone call recording, January 2, 2021 (released by Washington Post)
4. Freeman v. Giuliani, liability ruling by Judge Beryl Howell, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, August 30, 2023
Corroborating Sources
1. PBS News: "Jury awards $148 million in damages to Georgia election workers over Rudy Giuliani's 2020 vote lies," December 15, 2023
2. NPR: "Giuliani is ordered to pay $148 million to Georgia election workers he defamed," December 15, 2023
3. NBC News: "Rudy Giuliani satisfies judgment in defamation case brought by former Georgia election workers," January 2025
4. CBS News: "Judge rules for Georgia election workers in defamation suit against Rudy Giuliani," August 2023
Counterarguments and Context
Giuliani argued during the proceedings that his statements about Freeman and Moss were protected political speech and opinion related to matters of public concern. His legal team contended that he was raising legitimate questions about election irregularities that he believed to be true at the time. After the court found him liable, Giuliani's defense at the damages trial focused on arguing that the emotional and financial harm suffered by the two women was less severe than claimed. Trump's role was not directly litigated because he was not named as a defendant in the defamation case. Trump supporters argued that asking questions about election processes is constitutionally protected and that the false accusations, while unfortunate, were part of a broader effort to ensure election integrity. Freeman and Moss's attorneys countered that the accusations were not questions but specific, demonstrably false factual claims directed at identifiable private individuals, repeated after being debunked, and that the consequences were foreseeable.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 1 because the defamation liability was adjudicated by a federal court and the damages were awarded by a jury after a trial. The judgment has been satisfied. While Trump was not a party to the lawsuit, his role in publicly amplifying the false claims about Freeman and Moss, including naming Freeman eighteen times in the Raffensperger call, is documented through primary evidence. The entry focuses on the treatment of the two individuals and the adjudicated consequences of the defamatory campaign rather than on the broader election interference charges.