Giuliani testifies he hid his grandfather’s watch from defamed election employees: ‘I felt it could get lost’ | EUROtoday

Lawyers for 2 ladies defamed by Rudy Giuliani have spent months attempting to trace down his belongings to start chipping away on the $148 million he owes them in damages.

On Friday, he testified for greater than three hours in a federal courtroom in Manhattan as attorneys painstakingly poured over his sworn statements in thick stacks of courtroom filings.

Squinting at a small monitor in entrance of him, the 80-year-old former New York City mayor repeatedly mentioned he by no means deliberately withheld details about his belongings, didn’t recall seeing sure statements, and by no means willfully disobeyed courtroom orders to show over his property.

But he admitted he didn’t need to give the mother-daughter election employees his grandfather’s 120-year-old gold pocketwatch.

“I felt it could get lost if I turned it over,” Giuliani mentioned from the witness stand.

Friday’s seven-hour listening to will probably be a part of District Judge Lewis Liman’s willpower whether or not Donald Trump’s former legal professional must be held in contempt for blowing off requests for proof in a case stemming from a defamation judgment for his false claims towards the ladies within the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Attorneys repeatedly reminded Giuliani that Liman ordered his “unequivocal obligation” to the courtroom’s asset turnover order — or danger going through probably extreme sanctions — however he now claims that he doesn’t know the place a few of that property is, or if he even had a few of it to start with.

Losing the watch is “the last thing I want,” he mentioned.

He insisted: “I’m not trying to hide it from anyone. I took it upon myself to put it in a safe place. It’s the one thing that means something to me.”

A protracted record of Giuliani’s belongings — together with a 1980 Mercedes Benz, his New York penthouse condominium and signed sports activities memorabilia — was initially included in a chapter submitting by Giuliani in his short-lived chapter 11 case after a jury discovered him responsible for defaming election employees Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss as he pursued a spurious authorized bid to overturn election leads to states that Trump misplaced.

“Mr. Giuliani, as it stands you’re in violation of the court’s order,” Liman advised Giuliani on the finish of Friday’s listening to.

Giuliani additionally claimed in his chapter proceedings that he possessed a signed Joe DiMaggio Yankees jersey, which can also be pictured in a body hanging above a mantle in his Manhattan condominium in an actual property itemizing.

The jersey wasn’t there when attorneys for election employees confirmed up final October — and neither was many of the furnishings within the condominium, which had been cleared out days earlier. Post-It notes studying “take all” had been posted on a number of items of furnishings all through the condominium.

Giuliani mentioned it’s “possible” that the jersey was moved out in that timeframe.

He disputed the testimony of his finest pal, Alan Placa, who advised attorneys throughout a deposition that he distinctly remembered the shirt in Giuliani’s Palm Beach condominium.

The retired priest “made a mistake,” in keeping with Giuliani, who insists the shirt was all the time in New York till it vanished.

“I slept on the couch a lot and it’s the first thing I’d see when I woke up,” he mentioned. “He’s a wonderful priest and monsignor. He just happens to be wrong about this.”

There had been “inconsistencies” within the chapter filings, and “some things I didn’t have,” in keeping with Giuliani, who pointed to his divorces and a number of other strikes and a must account for property “quickly.”

He “just can’t find” a signed image of former New York Yankees legend Reggie Jackson, among the many items of memorabilia in courtroom paperwork.

“I get confused about what I have and don’t have,” he mentioned. “I know you find that hard, your honor, but I was blessed with a tremendous amount of Yankees memorabilia … I’m not hiding anything.”

Giuliani has already delivered the Mercedes, greater than a dozen watches, and a “single diamond ring,” in addition to entry to his New York penthouse condominium, “but no keys or ownership documents,” leaving the ladies “to sort through significant logistical obstacles to a sale, including the presence of his ex-wife’s name on the title,” attorneys wrote in courtroom paperwork.

He additionally solely delivered “some” of the gadgets in a storage facility he was ordered to open for the ladies, they argued.

In a collection of courtroom filings on Christmas Eve, Giuliani implored Liman to reject a requirement for sanctions, and argued he had already turned over “everything” he was ordered.

“I respectfully submit that the items which I was required to turn over, I turned over,” he wrote. “The Court should see that I gave everything that I could give.”

Recently unsealed courtroom filings revealed that Giuliani’s earlier legal professional, Kenneth Caruso, withdrew from the case as a result of Giuliani allegedly refused to take part in a discovery course of — together with giving up his digital gadgets.

Giuiliani claimes he doesn’t bear in mind Caruso — a longtime pal and authorized associate who nonetheless seems to be representing him in his attraction of the preliminary defamation verdict — ever having a dialog with him about having access to his gadgets.

He mentioned he discovered about Caruso’s discover of withdrawal within the newspaper, regardless of Caruso’s sworn assertion to the courtroom that he had emailed Giuliani about it.

“Is it your testimony today that Mr. Caruso was lying when he said that?” Liman requested. “Are you saying that it is untrue that he sent a copy of the motion to you via email?”

Giuliani additionally referred to as requests for lists of attorneys and medical doctors he was talked with “completely irrelevant” and “unnecessarily obtrusive.”

“If there is such a thing as abusive and overbroad, put that in the textbook,” he recommended.

Giuliani additionally testified that he didn’t imagine doc requests for all “communications” meant his emails.

Requests for copies of his calendars additionally couldn’t be fulfilled as a result of he doesn’t preserve any, in keeping with Giuliani’s testimony and a sworn assertion in courtroom paperwork. Giuliani has ceaselessly introduced his iPad to the courtroom to flip by way of his digital calendar.

He mentioned he as an alternative writes notes on paper for his desk about his upcoming occasions, then provides them to a secretary, and “she destroys them” after the occasion as a result of “I don’t need them anymore.”

The night time earlier than the listening to, Giuliani’s attorneys requested that he seem on the listening to remotely, citing “medical issues with his left knee and breathing problems due to lung issues” attributable to the previous mayor “being at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001.”

Giuliani will proceed his testimony nearly on January 6.

But later this month, he will probably be again within the courtroom for a trial to find out whether or not he has to give up his multi-million-dollar Palm Beach condominium to Freeman and Moss.

He will even face a contempt listening to in Washington, D.C., on January 10 for allegedly violating a courtroom order within the preliminary defamation case that prohibits him from repeating false statements about Freeman and Moss.

Speaking to The Independent exterior the courthouse on Friday morning, Giuliani was skeptical he would keep away from sanctions.

“Look at the record of this judge. We haven’t won a thing yet,” he mentioned. ”People would possibly query that. But on this case, we haven’t gained a single, tiny movement. Does that increase a query about it.”

He wouldn’t remark about his in-court habits to reporters at a press convention on Friday night.

“The judge has to decide how I comported myself,” he mentioned, laughing.