I voted for Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President: the all-American ticket to mute the tedious tawdry Trumpery, flummery, dupery and nincompoopery! From NY Daily News:
Judge puts Rudy Giuliani on mute during virtual hearing over rant against accuser in sex assault case
A judge was forced to put a ranting Rudy Giuliani on mute during a virtual hearing Wednesday in his Manhattan sexual assault and harassment case after he launched into personal attacks against his accuser, Noelle Dunphy.
More than an hour into the hearing, the embattled former New York City mayor and Donald Trump lawyer lobbed a series of unfounded allegations against Dunphy, calling her character into question.
“Your Honor, this is outrageous,” Dunphy’s lawyer, Justin Kelton, said.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Moyne yelled at Giuliani multiple times, asking him to stop talking. Finally, he put him on mute.
“Mr. Giuliani, you’re going to cause yourself harm by doing this, OK? So I’m going to protect you from yourself at this time,” Moyne said.
“These are not legal arguments that you’re making right now,” he said. “These are personal attacks, and this is not the time for that, OK? I’m not going to allow it, I’m sorry. I tried to treat you with respect and with deference, but you have to follow my rules.”
Giuliani, currently representing himself in the case, proceeded to shout at the camera after being muted before sitting back in his chair.
Dunphy sued Giuliani in May 2023, alleging he subjected her to sexual misconduct throughout her time working for him as a business consultant between January 2019 through 2021.
Her suit accuses the 80-year-old Giuliani, in graphic detail, of forcing her to engage in “violent sex,” attend video calls naked, and work in short shorts he bought printed with an American flag.
It also accuses Giuliani of requiring her to work off the books until his divorce from Judith Giulianiwas finalized and then refusing to pay some $2 million in wages.
The suit, which demands at least $10 million and a jury trial, lists claims including sexual harassment, sexual assault, breach of contract and retaliatory discharge. It accuses Giuliani of creating a hostile work environment and violating New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act.
Giuliani vehemently denies the allegations and says that Dunphy was never his employee.
Wednesday’s hearing came a week after Giuliani was ordered in a separate case to turn over control of almost everything he owns of value — including his Upper East Side apartment — within seven days to the Georgia mother and daughter he was found liable for baselessly accusing of ballot fraud and ordered to pay around $148 million.
Dunphy’s suit was frozen, along with many against Giuliani, when he filed for bankruptcy after a jury awarded the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, the staggering sum in December. It’s back on track after a judge threw out the bankruptcy matter, partly because Giuliani was being murky about his finances.
On Wednesday, Moyne told Adam Katz, a lawyer representing Giuliani’s business entities in the suit, that it was time to respond to the accusations.
The judge told Giuliani that he was “strongly” advising him not to proceed as his own lawyer. The one-time U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York can’t take on any other clients after he was disbarred due to his election subversion efforts. He was also stripped of his law license in Washington, D.C.
Once known as “America’s Mayor,” Giuliani is also facing charges in Arizona and Georgia for his alleged efforts to meddle in the last presidential election, to which he’s pleaded not guilty.
Wearing a black suit and a blue-and-yellow striped tie, Giuliani, who frequently forgot to take himself off mute, appeared to be eating breakfast during the hearing. At one point, he piped up to successfully protest his convicted former business associate Lev Parnas trying to dial in.
Ruling on the motions, the judge agreed to strike some particularly salacious details from the suit as scandalous and unnecessarily pleaded.
The judge agreed to exclude allegations Giuliani had extramarital affairs and a photo depicting an infamous scene in “Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm,” in which Giuliani was captured with his hands down his pants in a hotel room with a young woman.
Kelton argued that it was “the best thing we have to show what happened” during an alleged assault at Giuliani’s Upper East Side apartment, where Dunphy alleges he forced her to perform oral sex. Moyne said a jury could hear the allegations without seeing the demonstrative.
Moyne denied a defense request to exclude details about Giuliani’s alleged drinking habits, finding they went to the heart of her allegations.
The suit describes him as being a chronic, “functioning” alcoholic who went on “alcohol-drenched rants that included sexist, racist and antisemitic remarks,” many of which Dunphy says she recorded.
Moyne also agreed to strike allegations of sexualized and demeaning comments Dunphy says he made about Hilary Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Dunphy’s lawyer argued they established a pattern of Giuliani’s hostility toward women. The judge said the comments could stay, but not the names.
Katz contended Dunphy included the comments “made in jest” to taint the jury pool “and embarrass the former mayor.”
“And it worked,” Katz said.
Trump empowers all the rot and cess in politics. There have always been people who don't belong in politics going back thousands of years, and there have always been ways to prevent those people from participating. That's why previous empires were able to function for as long as they did. Shame on the courts for not disqualifying Trump over his role in the attack on our Capitol. They're derelict in their duties.
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