Rudy Giuliani, one of former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers, conceded in a court filing late Tuesday night that he made defamatory comments when he accused two Georgia election workers of tampering with ballots during the 2020 presidential election.

Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, are suing Giuliani for defamation after the New York mayor shared election night video in alleging they participated in election fraud. 

In the carefully worded two-page filing, Giuliani said he does not contest, strictly for the purposes of the lawsuit, that his statements “carry meaning that is defamatory per se.”

He, however, said his admission does not prevent him from continuing to fight the lawsuit. Giuliani also said in the filing that he can still argue that his comments were protected by the First Amendment and that his statements did not cause the Fulton County election workers emotional distress. 

Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s political adviser, said in a statement to multiple media outlets that “Giuliani did not acknowledge that the statements were false but did not contest it in order to move on to the portion of the case that will permit a motion to dismiss.”

“This is a legal issue, not a factual issue,” Goodman said. “Those out to smear the mayor are ignoring the fact that this stipulation is designed to get to the legal issues of the case," Goodman said.”

Attorney Michael Gottlieb, who represents Freeman and Moss, said in a statement to Spectrum News: "Giuliani’s stipulation concedes what we have always known to be true—Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss honorably performed their civic duties in the 2020 presidential election in full compliance with the law; and the allegations of election fraud he and former-President Trump made against them have been false since day one.

"While certain issues, including damages, remain to be decided by the court, our clients are pleased with this major milestone in their fight for justice, and look forward to presenting what remains of this case at trial."

In testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee last year, the mother and daughter said after Giuliani began accusing them of election fraud, they received threatening and racist messages on social media. Moss said she quit her job due to stress and avoided some routine activities such as going to the grocery store. 

They became the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories online, and Trump invoked their names 18 times during a Jan. 2, 2020, phone call in which he urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes needed to flip the state to Trump.

Investigations by the Georgia secretary of state’s office and the Trump Justice Department found no evidence to support Giuliani’s and Trump’s claims.

In June, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, who is overseeing the defamation case, sanctioned Giuliani for failing to turn over evidence as part of discovery. Giuiliani was ordered to pay more than $89,000 to cover Freeman’s and Moss’ attorney fees. 

Note: This article was updated to include attorney Michael Gottlieb's statement.