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Shay Moss’s life changed forever on December 10, 2020, when Rudy Giuliani, then-attorney general for President Donald Trump, publicly stated that she and her mother, a Fulton County, Georgia poll researcher, had cheated the result. in her state.
The head of Moss offered to check her social media accounts that day to see if she had received any threats, as well as others in the office. She was stunned by what she saw when she opened her Facebook Messenger account.
“It was just a lot of terrible things,” Moss said at a hearing Tuesday before a House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Many of the reports were racist and “hateful,” Moss, who is Black, said. “Many death threats tell me that I will be in prison with my mother and say things like, ‘Rejoice it’s 2020, not 1920.’ ”
This was just the beginning. Eventually, Moss stopped walking to the grocery store, fearing that acquaintances might say her name and attract the attention of believers in Trump’s allegations of voter fraud. Election deniers showed up at her grandmother’s home and tried to work their way up for evidence of fraud. Both she and her mother, Ruby Freeman, were forced into hiding. They left their jobs in the Fulton County Registration and Election Department, where Moss had proudly served as a poll officer for more than a decade.
““My grandmother has always told me how important it is to vote and how the people before me, many people, older people in my family, did not have that right,” Moss told the committee. “So what I loved most about my job was the older voters. They like to call. They like to talk to you. I’ve always been excited about sending out all the missing newsletters for older people with disabilities. I even remember driving to the hospital to give someone her request to be absent.
Moss and Freeman’s emotional testimony concluded an exciting hearing, the fourth so far in the committee, which focuses on Trump’s campaign of pressure on government and local officials to undo his loss in half a dozen disputed states. The mother and daughter, in particular, revealed in detail the cost of Trump’s baseless accusations about the 2020 race for the lives of ordinary election workers, many of whom described threats of violence.
“We are in danger”: Election officials fear for their personal safety amid a flood of false voting allegations
Moss said she was left speechless when her leaders showed her a recording of Giuliani’s statement before a Georgia Senate committee investigating the 2020 result. where the county has organized a ballot counting operation. They had brought suitcases full of fake Biden ballots and scanned them repeatedly through tabulation teams, he said. He described an arena video from the arena, which he said showed the two exchanging USB sticks, possibly containing fake vote counts, “as if they were cocaine bottles”.
“I want to say that anyone who is a criminal investigator or prosecutor is obviously involved in secret, illegal activities,” Giuliani said. “And they’re still walking around Georgia. They already had to be questioned. Their homes had to be searched for evidence. “
Representative Adam B. Schiff (D-California), who presided over Tuesday’s interrogation, asked Moss, “None of this was true, was it?”
Moss’s response: “None of this.”
Schiff then asked about the USB stick.
“What did your mother actually give you in this video?”
“Ginger mint,” Moss said.
Trump also personally attacked Freeman and Moss in a telephone conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Rafensperger (right) just days before the Capitol attack, mentioning Freeman 18 times and describing her at one point as a “professional cheater and voice cheater.” The Washington Post received a recording of the conversation and published it last year.
The threats and harassment that followed even reached Moss’s grandmother, who called one day, shouting to say that people had knocked on her door, and when she opened it, she tried to enter the house in search of Moss and Freeman. . Moss said how horrible she felt to tell her grandmother, “who likes to walk around the neighborhood,” that she should stop training outside for her own safety. During the night, pranksters “constantly” sent pizzas to her home, which delivery drivers expected her to pay for, Moss said.
“I just felt so helpless and so horrible to her,” Moss said.
Schiff closed Moss’s appearance by asking her how many other election workers, pictured in the State Farm Arena surveillance video, still work for Fulton County.
“There is no permanent election official or supervisor in this video who is still there,” she said.
The commission released video footage from Freeman, who was sitting behind her daughter on Tuesday but did not testify in person about how her life was turned upside down by Trump. The testimony left Freeman in tears, and Moss wiped her eyes and shook.
Freeman told the commission that she was known as “Lady Ruby” and had built her own small business, a shop “serving ladies in unique fashion,” using that nickname. She wore a Lady Ruby shirt during the ballot counting at State Farm Arena – but will not wear it again.
“I won’t even introduce myself by name anymore,” Freeman said. “I got nervous when I met someone I knew in the grocery store who said my name. I’m worried about who’s listening to me. I get nervous when I have to say my name for food orders. I’m always worried about who’s around me. I lost my name and my reputation. I lost my sense of security. “
Moss and Freeman filed defamation lawsuits last year against Giuliani, as well as media in favor of Trump, including One America News. They settled with the OAN in May for undisclosed terms. As part of the agreement, the OAN aired a segment in which it was reported that Georgian officials had concluded that there was no “widespread voter fraud by election workers” at State Farm Arena and that neither Freeman nor Moss had participated in ballot fraud or criminal offenses. Giuliani filed a motion to dismiss his claim in early June.
On January 6, the FBI contacted Freeman to tell her to leave her home for safety. She has been absent for two months.
“I have nowhere to feel safe. Nowhere, “Freeman said. “Do you know how it feels to be directed by the President of the United States?” The president of the United States should represent every American, not one. But he turned to me, Lady Ruby, a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen, who stood up to help Fulton County hold elections in the midst of a pandemic.
Jacqueline Alemanni contributed to this report.
The uprising on January 6
The House Election Commission, which is investigating the uprising of January 6, 2021, is holding its third high-profile hearing this month. Find the latest here.
Hearings in Congress: A House of Representatives commission investigating the attack on the US Capitol has conducted more than 1,000 interviews in the past year. He will share his findings in a series of hearings starting on June 9th. Here is what we know about the hearings and how to watch them.
the riot: On January 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Five people died that day or immediately afterwards, and 140 police officers were attacked.
Inside the siege: During the riot, the rebels came dangerously close to breaking into the building’s inner sanctuaries while lawmakers were still there, including former Vice President Mike Pence. The Washington Post researched text messages, photos and videos to create a video history of what happened on January 6.
Charges: Proud Boys leader Enrique Tario and four lieutenants have been charged with rebellion, joining Oathkeepers leader Stuart Rhodes and about two dozen associates to be accused of involvement in the Capitol attack. They are just some of the hundreds who have been indicted, many of whom received sentences significantly lighter than the government demanded.
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