Maggie Haberman Says Trump And Giuliani May Be In The Finding Out Phase: Will This Be ‘Deterrent’ For Spreading Lies?

New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that former President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani may be in the finding out phase after accountability came for them — and asked if this will become a deterrent.

This week ended with the blockbuster news that Rudy Giuliani will have to pay a staggering $148 million judgment for defaming Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss as part of his effort to support Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 election.

On Friday’s edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, Blitzer asked what the verdict means more broadly, and Haberman contextualized the Giuliani case with the failure of Trump supporters to mobilize following his arrests and the actions against Jan. 6 rioters:

BLITZER: And a bigger picture, Maggie, how does today’s case fit into the broader problem of disinformation and election lies coming from so many within the Republican Party?

HABERMAN: Well, look, Wolf, I think we’re going to see what kind of a long-term impact it has. But if you look at this as somewhat analogous to something we have seen over the course of the past year, as former President Trump has been indicted four times on two of those occasions, he’s very explicitly asked for people to come protest, specifically, really in Manhattan when he was indicted the first time. And there was a lot of concern that there would be a replay of what we saw on January 6, 2021, in terms of violence.

That didn’t happen because there have been so many arrests of people who invaded the Capitol, who attacked the Capitol, who rioted at the Capitol, and who were disruptive to an official proceeding. And a lot of people saw that as a deterrent from future behavior. So, this does raise the question of will this be something of a deterrent from people spreading disinformation, spreading lies about people?

These were not public figures. These were two women who got targeted and had their lives completely turned upside down. So, that is where the monetary figure really does matter.

BLITZER: It certainly does.

Watch above via CNN’s The Situation Room.