Who is Shaye Moss? Rudy Giuliani loses election defamation case against Georgia poll worker

On Wednesday, August 30, 2023, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that lawyer Rudy Giuliani is liable for the defamation of Georgia poll workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss. In 2021, Freeman and Moss had sued Giuliani for defamation, after he claimed that the pair had been involved in providing fake ballots and distributing cocaine.

In court, Giuliani was ordered to pay the pair's legal fees after failing to provide evidence for his claims.

According to PBS, after Rudy Giuliani accused Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss of criminal activities, they allegedly received several harassment calls and death threats.

The lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani is part of the legal fallout from the 2020 United Presidential Election. In 2020, former President Trump gave Giuliani the role of handling lawsuits related to alleged voter misconduct in the last Presidential election.

However, due to recent developments, Trump and several of his aides have now been indicted for a supposed scheme to overturn the election results.

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How Rudy Giuliani pushed for an investigation into the activities of Shaye Moss and her mother

During the 2020 elections, Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman were serving as election workers in Fulton, Georgia. As per USA Today, Rudy Giuliani and several republican supporters claimed that the pair could be seen packing ballots into suitcases. While many accused the pair of assisting in the manipulation of votes, PBS noted that they were simply packing the ballots because they thought the count was done for that day.

In addition, Giuliani accused the daughter of handing her mother something that looked "like they were vials of heroin or cocaine," as per NPR.

The accusations would eventually go viral, with The Times noting how former President Donald Trump mentioned the mother-daughter duo's name 18 times in a phone call, when he was discussing allegations of voter fraud with the secretary of State.

In a public statement at the time, Giuliani demanded that the suspects be investigated:

“I mean, it’s obvious to anyone who’s a criminal investigator or prosecutor that they are engaged in surreptitious, illegal activity. And they’re still walking around Georgia. They should have been questioned already. Their homes should have been searched for evidence.”

After the influential politician began to regularly bring up Morris and Freeman's names, other Republican supporters reportedly began a harassment campaign against the pair. Ruby Freeman discussed the impact the incident had on their lives.

“I’ve lost my name and I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost my sense of security all because a group of people people starting with Number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter, Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen," she said.

As reported by Business Insider, Giuliani has been ordered to pay an approximate total of $133,000 to reimburse the pair.