Judge chides apologetic Rudy Giuliani for missing court date
A Manhattan judge Friday chided Rudy Giuliani for missing a court date as the apologetic former New York City mayor called the absence “very stupid.”
“Let me apologize for not appearing,” Giuliani told the judge about missing a hearing last month in his divorce case.
“It was very stupid. I made a mistake,” Giuliani said, claiming multiple excuses — including that he wrote down the wrong date.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Katz reminded Giuliani that he issued a civil order of contempt against him at the September hearing, when he also ordered Giuliani arrested if he didn’t fork over $235,000 by Friday.
“A sheriff is on notice to come at a moment’s notice today” to arrest Giuliani, Katz warned. “This is a very serious matter.”
At a prior hearing, “you repeated the date to me, so you knew about it,” Katz scolded. “I said everyone needed to be here on the 23rd and you repeated it to me. I don’t understand your excuse.”
But Giuliani responded: “I put it down the wrong way when I left the courthouse.”
Giuliani turned over copies of checks to the judge and to ex-wife Judith, claiming they exonerated him from the whopping sum she claims he owes.
“I’m in a dramatically different position than I was before,” Giuliani said. “Those amounts of money are catastrophic but they are also completely false.”
Judith’s lawyer said they’d just received Giuliani’s evidence and would need time to go through the checks to see how much remains for him to pay his ex.
Judith sued Giuliani in August for $260,000, claiming that’s the amount by which he had fallen behind on alimony, country club fees and condo payments that he agreed to cover in their divorce settlement.
“I don’t understand why it takes two months to get checks from Citibank,” Katz pressed. “I can get my bank records by entering a passcode on the computer. I don’t understand why there is such a delay.”
The judge said he’d set a new court date and let both sides reassess how much is owed before deciding what to do with Judith’s request to hold Giuliani in contempt.
“I have no desire to remand someone into custody until I’m sure he truly has not fulfilled his obligation,” the judge said.
Outside court, Giuliani told reporters the hearing “went very well.”
“The judge lifted the mistaken [contempt] order which was based on false statements by her,” Giuliani said. “As you can see, it is not true that I owed $200,000 or $300,000. At the very most, it’s probably closer to $20,000 — if it is that.”
“It’s possible I’ve overpaid her,” Giuliani said.
Judith filed for divorce in 2018 after 15 years of marriage. The pair bitterly fought over their fortune that’s estimated at over $30 million.
Giuliani has faced a slew of legal problems including election-related ethics charges and a suit by Dominion Voting Systems for claiming the company rigged the 2020 presidential election.