Rudy Giuliani ordered to appear at contempt hearing in January over failure to give up assets

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Rudy Giuliani to appear in court in early January to face claims that he should be held in contempt for failing to turn over assets including a New York apartment lease and a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt to two Georgia election poll workers who won a libel case against him.

Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan signed the order calling for the former New York City mayor and onetime personal lawyer to President-elect Donald Trump to appear before him on Jan. 3.

Lawyers for the election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment said in court papers that Giuliani has failed to turn over the lease to the apartment, a Mercedes, various watches and jewelry, a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt and other baseball mementos, among other items.

Giuliani also faces a trial Jan. 16 before Liman over the disposition of his Florida residence and World Series rings.

In October, Liman ordered Giuliani to turn over many of his prized possessions to the poll workers. Giuliani’s lawyers have predicted that Giuliani will eventually win custody of the items on appeal.

One of the attorneys, Joseph Cammarata, said he was confident that Giuliani would prevail at the contempt hearing, which he described as “another act of lawfare” imposed by the election workers' counsel.

“Their mission is to destroy Mayor Giuliani,” the emailed statement continued. “We look forward to deposing the Plaintiffs and prevailing at trial.”

The contempt hearing follows a contentious November hearing in which Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, became angry at the judge and said Liman was treating him unfairly.

“The implication I’ve been not diligent about it is totally incorrect,” Giuliani said in a scolding tone as he described his efforts to obtain a replacement of the title to the car. “The implication you make is against me and every implication against me is wrong.”

At the hearing, Liman warned Giuliani's lawyers that Giuliani would not be allowed to interrupt a hearing again.

“He’s not going to be permitted to speak and the court will take action,” the judge said.

Giuliani was found liable last year for defaming the two Georgia poll workers by falsely accusing them of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential election.

The women said they faced death threats after Giuliani falsely claimed they sneaked in ballots in suitcases, counted ballots multiple times and tampered with voting machines.

FILE - Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters as he leaves the federal courthouse in New York, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

A total of 69 Ukrainian drones targeting the Russian capital were shot down in a massive attack early on Tuesday morning, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

The attack, the biggest targeting Moscow in months, came as a Ukrainian delegation was set to meet with America’s top diplomat in Saudi Arabia about ending the three-year war with Russia. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials on the attack.

At least 11 of the drones were shot down in the Ramensky and Domodedovo districts of the Moscow region surrounding the Russian capital, Sobyanin said on the messaging app Telegram. He didn't specify where the other drones were shot down, noting only that they were “flying towards Moscow."

The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, said that one person was killed and three more wounded as a result of the drone attack. The attack damaged seven apartments in a residential building in the Ramensky district, he said.

Sobyanin said the roof of a building in Moscow also sustained damage, which he described as “insignificant.” Footage of the building, published by Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti, showed a charred spot on the facade of a multi-story residential building near the roof, with bits of the building's lining stripped off.

Flights have been restricted in and out of four airports, including Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky to the south of Moscow and Sheremetyevo to the north, according to Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia.

Train traffic through the Domodedovo railway station has also been briefly halted, local officials reported.

Authorities also reported shooting down or jamming drones in the Kaluga, Ryazan, Tula and Vladimir regions adjacent to the Moscow region, as well as the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine.

Rosaviatsia also restricted flights in and out of airports in the Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with the governor of Perm territory Dmitry Makhonin during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanised Brigade press service, Ukrainian servicemen train at the military training ground in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Monday, March 10, 2025. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanised Brigade via AP)