'He didn't see them as humans': Scathing closing argument lays into Rudy Giuliani

Michael Gottlieb, the attorney representing defamed election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, delivered a scathing denunciation of Rudy Giuliani's character in the closing arguments of his defamation trial.

As reported by journalist Brandi Buchman, Gottlieb told jurors that Giuliani felt free to baselessly smear Moss and Freeman as thieves who stole the election from former President Donald Trump simply because they are not rich or powerful as he is.

"Giuliani thought he could get away with defaming them because he thought they were ordinary and expendable," Gottlieb said, per Buchman. "[He] didn't see them as human beings."

Gottlieb also quoted from a bestselling book about leadership that Giuliani wrote in which he advised would-be leaders to not be bullies and, when seeing bullies, to stand up to them.

Giuliani himself appears not to have taken his own advice, the attorney said.

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"We know Giuliani knows better than this," he argued. "He knows words are power. To mean what you say and communicate honestly... to avoid relying on others for information... that its important to stand up to bullies. He wrote all that in his New York Times bestselling book."

Gottlieb closed his argument by asking jurors to send a powerful message to other would-be defamers that they should think twice before lobbing baseless smears against innocent people.

"Send [the message] to Giuliani and any other powerful figure with a platform and an audience who is considering whether they will take this chance for seeking profit and fame by assassinating the character of ordinary people," he urged. "Those ordinary people will stand up and fight back. Facts matter. Truth is truth and you will be held accountable."