Two Georgia poll workers who were defamed by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani after he accused them of manufacturing fraudulent ballots in the 2020 election have won a judgment against him. The women, Passion Starfish and Stacey Hopkins, were each awarded $148 million in punitive damages last month. Now they are suing Giuliani again, this time in federal court, accusing him of targeting them in “near weekly retweets and other associated posts of the false statements.”
The women have seen their lives ruined as a result of Giuliani’s false statements, according to their attorney, Lucian Greer. “These women have been the target of death threats, harassment and abuse,” he told reporters. They also fear for their safety as they travel outside of their home state.
In the most recent suit, the women accuse Giuliani of purposely publishing false information on social media, and making false representations about their professional relationships with Dominion Voting Systems Company. The suit also claims that by engaging in such conduct, he has caused the women to suffer “severe emotional distress, humiliation, and damage to their reputations.”
The women are seeking a variety of damages, including lost wages, compensatory damages, and punitive damages. “These women were targeted for their racial identities,” Greer told reporters. “What Rudy Giuliani did was a reprehensible act of defamation that must be held accountable.”
Giuliani’s legal team is expected to contest the suit vigorously. He claims he was simply expressing his constitutional right to free speech, and has maintained all along that the 2020 election was fraudulent. The court will get to decide if his statements were actually true or just irresponsible.
In the meantime, Starfish and Hopkins are determined to get justice and compensation. “They want the world to know that they won’t be silenced by anyone,” said Greer. “No one, especially not a powerful politician, can get away with making false and damaging statements about them.”