Watch: Rudy Giuliani appears in Manhattan court for contempt hearing

Watch as Rudy Giuliani appears in Manhattan federal court on Friday, 3 January, where a judge will consider a request by two Georgia election workers to whom he owes $148m for defamation to hold him in civil contempt for failing to turn over his assets.

The former New York City mayor defamed a pair of election workers, resulting in the damages awarded to the women that drove him to declare bankruptcy. After the bankruptcy case was dismissed, mother-and-daughter poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are now attempting to collect his assets for the damages, including his Mercedes Benz, Manhattan penthouse, and luxury watches.

Giuliani is now scheduled to appear at a contempt hearing when District Judge Lewis Liman will hear why he believes he should not face “severe” sanctions for what the election workers have complained is his failure to comply with court orders and skipping deadlines.

On Thursday, Giuliani’s lawyer Joseph Cammarata requested that his client be permitted to appear via Zoom at Friday’s hearing because he is experiencing “medical issues with his left knee and breathing problems due to lung issues discovered last year attributable to Defendant Rudolph W. Giuliani being at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001.”

Judge Liman rejected Giuliani’s request, writing in his order: “Defendant does not assert he is unable to travel. He submits no medical evidence. He has appeared in person at two prior hearings in this matter... He has previously asked for an adjournment of the trial so that he could travel to Washington, DC this month.”