A group of Georgia poll workers who were defamed by former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and his allies have sued him for a second time. The workers claim they won a total of $148 million in compensatory and punitive damages in a previous lawsuit that was filed in December 2020.
The lawsuit, filed in a Fulton County, Georgia, court this week, alleges Giuliani and his allies “engaged in a vicious and concerted campaign to mislead the public and spread malicious lies” about the Georgia poll workers. The suit claims that this campaign was designed to “intimidate, threaten, and coerce election officials and to manipulate the outcome of the 2020 election.”
The lawsuit specifically states that Giuliani and his allies “engaged in a disinformation campaign” with the intent to “influence public opinion and sow distrust in the electoral process.” The lawsuit cites specific examples of Giuliani and his allies publicly defaming the poll workers by making false and defamatory accusations that the poll workers had committed fraud, and had allowed ineligible people to vote in the 2020 election.
The workers claim that these false and defamatory comments caused them emotional distress, damage to their reputations, and other harms. The suit seeks a total of $165 million in compensatory and punitive damages, which is an amount that is nearly $50 million more than was awarded in the previous lawsuit.
The workers are also asking for an injunction to prevent Giuliani and his allies from making any more such comments about them in the future. The lawsuit comes as part of the trend of Georgia poll workers and election workers filing lawsuits against Trump and his allies, who are accused of attempting to manipulate the 2020 election and interfere with the electoral process.