The Media Research Center’s Mark Finkelstein served up an odd take on Rudy Giuliani having a $148 million judgment rendered against him for defaming two election workers in a Dec. 17 post. Amid the grumbling about the lawyer taking a “victory lap” on MSNBC (we don’t recall Finkelstein complaining about right-wing lawyers taking victory laps on Fox News), he surprisingly admitted that Giuliani did in fact do what he was accused of doing:
On the Sunday edition of her MSNBC show, Katie Phang invited on for a victory lap the lawyer for the two plaintiffs who won a $148 million judgment from Rudy Giuliani in their defamation case against him. The mother-and-daughter plaintiffs had been election workers in Fulton County, Georgia in the 2020 election that Rudy had publicly accused of participating in election fraud in favor of Joe Biden.
In the course of his comments, the lawyer, Von DuBose, managed to maintain a straight face while claiming:
“No amount of money can bring back the sense of security that’s been lost in this case by virtue of the things that have been done to them . . . I think they would trade all of this for their prior lives.”
Now, it’s true, as Rudy’s lawyer has admitted, that Giuliani “committed wrongful conduct” against the plaintiffs, and “harmed” them. And the evidence is that their lives were significantly disrupted, and that they received numerous threats against them.
But $148 million would surely go a very long way to repairing the harm. IF….millions of dollars came through from the Giuliani camp.
Finkelstein then whined about the purported trade the lawyer referenced — which, of course, could never happen given that the damage has been done:
Let’s do this thought experiment. A higher power waving a magic wand appears before the plaintiffs, and makes this offer to them:
“Ladies, just take this pen and sign on the line. Instantly, you will be fully restored to your lives before Rudy came into it. All you have to do is give up your $148 million judgment.”
Von Bose’s assertion that his clients would trade away their $148 million judgment to get their former lives back was risible. Even so, I found DuBose more impressive than Ben Crump, who has made a lucrative cottage industry of representing clients including the families of Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
Yeah, the MRC hates it when people like Crump call out right-wing racism. Finkelstein concluded by whining that “Phang elevated the plaintiffs to royalty status, at one point speaking of ‘Lady Ruby.'”
Interestingly, this is the only MRC post that referenced the verdict against Giuliani — a reminder that the MRC has no interest in reporting bad news about its fellow right-wingers.