Rudolph W. Giuliani announced his latest legal maneuver on Wednesday with an email blast at 2:44 a.m.
The short message said his new lawyer, a Staten Island divorce attorney, would provide an update later in the day on the $148 million that Mr. Giuliani must pay to two Georgia election workers whom he defamed.
But there was no update, at least in a legal sense. Instead, it marked a new turn in Mr. Giuliani’s shambolic legal battle.
Mr. Giuliani has already missed several deadlines to give the poll workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, close to $11 million of his personal assets — a small down payment on the nine-figure judgment.
Some of the items include a luxury apartment on the Upper East Side and a collection of rare Yankees memorabilia. So far, the women have only received a number of Mr. Giuliani’s high-end watches and a vintage Mercedes-Benz convertible, among other collectibles.
If he does not comply fully with the handover, Mr. Giuliani could face steep penalties, including jail time. He could face further penalties if a federal judge in Washington, D.C., finds him in contempt for continuing to defame the two women.
In late 2023, a jury made the award to Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss for the harm their reputations suffered after Mr. Giuliani claimed repeatedly and without evidence that they had tried to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Mr. Giuliani, 80, filed for bankruptcy shortly after. But, because he refused to comply with court requirements, the case was dismissed, leaving his assets vulnerable.
Mr. Giuliani did not attend the news conference on Wednesday, which featured an appearance by the new lawyer, Joseph M. Cammarata. It’s unclear how Mr. Cammarata’s specialty in divorce was going to aid the former mayor’s defense. And the change in counsel has already caused some confusion.
Mr. Cammarata shares the name of a high-profile lawyer who represented Paula Jones in a sexual harassment lawsuit against former president Bill Clinton. That Mr. Cammarata has posted a disclaimer on his law firm’s website making it clear that he is not representing Mr. Giuliani.
At the impromptu event Wednesday morning, held on a Midtown sidewalk, this Mr. Cammarata, who took over the case on Friday, pleaded his case to the public.
He was defiant in his defense of Mr. Giuliani, though he offered no new insight into his client’s strategy, which remained focused on portraying himself as a victim of political persecution.
“The $148 million judgment against Mayor Rudy Giuliani is astronomical, unconstitutional and un-American,” Mr. Cammarata said, his voice rising above train traffic emanating from a subway grate.
The appearance occurred on the same day that lawyers for the two former poll workers attempted to have Mr. Giuliani found in contempt of court. Earlier in the day, the lawyers petitioned a federal court in Washington to punish Mr. Giuliani for continuing to make conspiratorial accusations, which he lobbed during broadcasts of his talk show, “America’s Mayor Live.” Lawyers for the women declined to comment.
The conference was held outside the office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the law firm representing the poll workers for free. Mr. Cammarata chose the setting, he said, in part to cast his client as the underdog.
During the half-hour conference, attended mostly by curious onlookers who stumbled across the event, Mr. Cammarata pleaded for leniency for the former mayor.
“Judges have the power to reduce judgments and verdicts — it happens everyday,” he said.
Mr. Giuliani has already appealed the judgment. That case is working its way through the federal court system in Washington.
Mr. Cammarata, a former New York City police officer, said he was chosen to be Mr. Giuliani’s new counsel after forging a personal relationship with the mayor. He said his brother, Michael F. Cammarata, a firefighter, died during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Mr. Giuliani, who kept in touch, inspired him to become a lawyer.
“Rudy Giuliani was there for me during my darkest time. Now I’m here for him during his darkest time,” he said.
After a federal court judge threatened Mr. Giuliani with contempt for failing to transfer his assets to the women, his defense lawyers, Kenneth Caruso and David Labkowski, requested last week to withdraw as counsel, citing unspecified professional ethics issues. Their reasons were redacted in court records.
At the conference on Wednesday, Madeline Brame, who runs a nonprofit dedicated to crime victims, spoke in defense of Mr. Giuliani and his record as a tough prosecutor and popular mayor.
Mr. Giuliani once helped her raise funds to fend off eviction, she said, and was a sympathetic ear when her son was killed.
But then she appeared to double down on the false claims Mr. Giuliani made about the two Georgia women. Mr. Cammarata leaned over the podium and whispered something to her.
“I know,” Ms. Brame said. “I’m not going to go there.”
The post Rudy Giuliani’s New Lawyer Takes His Case to the Streets appeared first on New York Times.
