Joe Sibley, an attorney for Rudy Giuliani, on Thursday explained that his client decided not to testify on his own behalf to protect two former election workers who he was found to have defamed.

At the start of closing remarks in the defamation trial, Sibley admitted that the testimonies of plaintiffs Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were credible. Following the 2020 presidential campaign, Giuliani made the two women the focus of false conspiracy theories about the election.

"It's been hard to watch the victims in this case. And everything you saw was 100% genuine," Sibley said, according to correspondent Jordan Fischer. "That wasn't acting. Yesterday, Ms. Freeman was especially hard to handle. That's why we made the decision not to question her."

Sibley offered an explanation for Giuliani's absence on the witness stand. He said Freeman and Moss "have been through enough."

But after the admission, Sibley tore into witnesses for the defense.

"I almost wanted to look at the ceiling to see if the plaintiffs' lawyers were puppeteering the witnesses," he remarked.

Giuliani faces up to $43 million in damages after U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found he was liable for defaming Freeman and Moss.