In a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., expert witness Ashlee Humphries testified on Wednesday that the false accusations made by Rudy Giuliani against two Georgia election workers, Weandrea "Shaye" Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, have caused significant reputational harm. To repair their reputations, it would reportedly cost up to about $47.5 million.

Giuliani, one of former President Donald Trump's personal lawyers, was instrumental in pushing false claims of voter fraud and election interference following Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election. He specifically targeted Moss and Freeman, who worked as ballot counters in Fulton County. Giuliani falsely accused them of pulling "suitcases" filled with "illegal" ballots from under a table and including them in the election count. He also claimed that Moss and Freeman, who are Black, passed USB drives that had some role in manipulating vote tallies, comparing them to "vials of heroin or cocaine," and called for them to be imprisoned.

However, Georgia officials confirmed President Joe Biden's victory through a statewide ballot audit and cleared Moss and Freeman of any wrongdoing. US District Judge Beryl Howell ruled earlier this year that Giuliani was liable for defamation in the case, and the ongoing trial is focused on determining the damages.

To quantify the damages, Humphries, a professor of consumer sentiment at Northwestern University, studied the reach of 16 different statements made by Giuliani and analyzed digital metrics to estimate how many people they likely reached. She then calculated the cost of a sustained advertising and social media campaign to correct the false information spread by Giuliani.

Humphries testified that each of Giuliani's podcast episodes, which were crossposted to various platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple, reached hundreds of thousands of people and had significant amplification through media coverage and interviews with far-right media organizations. The false statements about Moss and Freeman continued to circulate online, with over 710,000 online mentions between November 2021 and May 2023, and more than 317,000 mentions between May and August 2023.

Repairing the damage caused by Giuliani's false accusations and ongoing criticism on social media would require a "corrective campaign" estimated to cost between $28,489,415 and $47,482,358, according to Humphries. She also highlighted the challenges in obtaining completely accurate impression counts for each statement due to data limitations from platforms like Spotify and Apple.

During cross-examination, Giuliani's attorney, Joseph D. Sibley, challenged the high figures presented by Humphries and suggested that the blame for the falsehoods should be distributed among other individuals and media companies. However, Sibley did not provide an alternative expert witness or method to evaluate the damages.

Moss, who testified about the detrimental impact of Giuliani's falsehoods on her life, said she has received racist and sexist death threats and faced attempts by Trump supporters to enter her family's home. Humphries emphasized that ongoing mentions and continued criticism by Giuliani on social media hinder the possibility of fully repairing the reputational damage suffered by Moss and Freeman.

The trial continues, with the possibility of Giuliani testifying in his defense. Giuliani maintains his innocence regarding the defamation allegations, despite Judge Howell's previous ruling holding him accountable.