Atlanta, December 10 (Reuters)-Death threats from angry Trump supporters forced Georgia's election worker Ruby Freeman, a 62-year-old grandmother, to flee her 20-year-old home. Some news called for her to hang; some urged people to "hunt down" her. Freeman showed hundreds of threat messages to the police and called 911 three times.
But a year after Donald Trump and his allies falsely accused Freeman-along with her daughter and colleague Wandria "Saya" Moss-of electoral fraud, according to a Reuters investigation of these threats, local police or state authorities These threats have not been investigated. Georgia law enforcement records. Federal agents monitored some threats but did not arrest anyone.
The two women described their ordeal in detail for the first time and told Reuters about the threats of lynching and racial slander, as well as strangers' shocking visits to Freeman and her mother's home. The intimidation began in December last year, a month after the 2020 election, when the Trump campaign released surveillance video. They falsely claimed that the two black women opened a "suitcase" full of false ballots. Fulton County, which is predominantly black, counts votes, which includes part of Atlanta.
As no one was arrested for threatening them and no police provided security details, these women said their lives were in chaos. Freeman told Reuters that she moved from house to house out of safety concerns. Moss, 37, avoids leaving home except for work. She said she is still plagued by anxiety and depression. Moss' teenage son-who was also attacked by threats and racist messages-began to fail at school.
Freeman said their alert peaked in January, when an FBI agent told her that a mob in the Capitol was arrested on January 6th and was found to be in possession of a police officer. List of people executed. She said that both Freeman and her daughter were involved. The FBI declined to comment on this matter.
According to police reports reviewed by Reuters, Freeman showed hundreds of threatening emails and text messages to the police in Cobb County, where she lives. She visited the Fulton County Police Department on December 4, 2020 and told the officers of the threats. According to Freeman, when she was there, her cell phone kept ringing threatening calls, and an unidentified police officer answered more than 20 of them. According to Reuters' review of the call recordings, in response to Freeman's sometimes panic calling the 911 emergency number, Cobb County officials went to her home. However, according to police records, the police did not investigate the threats she faced.
Among the uninvited guests at Freeman's house was Trevian Kutti, a famous black Trump supporter who said she was here to help. Freeman said that as a publicist for hip-hop artist and Trump supporter Kanye West, Couty warned Freeman that she would be arrested on voting fraud charges soon and tried to force her to plead guilty in exchange for help. . (West later changed his name to "Ye".)
Freeman said she ended the conversation. This episode made her wonder who she can trust. She concluded: "No one."
Part of Freeman's description of the meeting was confirmed by police recordings reviewed by Reuters. Cutie did not respond to a request for comment.
As election workers face an unprecedented wave of terrorist threats this year, this family’s ordeal is an extreme example of the broader paralysis of US law enforcement. In addition to the hundreds of threats described by Moss and Freeman, Reuters also recorded more than 850 threats and harassment messages sent to election managers, of which approximately 100 legal experts stated that they may be prosecuted under federal law. Almost no one was held accountable.
Matt Masterson, a Republican in charge of election security affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2018 to 2020, said: “It must be charged against those who threaten and encourage threats by election workers. I don’t see a way out. There is no real accountability."
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Reuters reported on the experience of the mother and daughter through public records and interviews with colleagues last week. The next day, the two women filed a defamation lawsuit against the far-right news site The Gateway Pundit, which published a series of false stories accusing them of election fraud. Gateway Pundit declined to comment.
For this story, the two women agreed to be interviewed on the condition that reporters are not allowed to take photos, publish conference recordings, or reveal the location of the conference. After the photos of Moss and Freeman were widely circulated after the election, both of them changed their appearance; Reuters agreed not to describe what they are now.
After the threats began in December last year, these women became desperately in need of help. Freeman said she spoke with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). She said the bureau’s response was to show her how to make her Facebook page private. GBI told Reuters that Georgia law only allows the department to investigate when requested by police or other government officials, but said it did not do so in the Freeman and Moss case.
Freeman also talked with the FBI. She said that on January 5, an agent advised her to leave home for her safety. The FBI also recommended that she change her phone number. A former federal official told Reuters that the FBI had been monitoring threats to election workers and contacted Freeman after finding information against her.
At the time, a far-right user on the social media platform Parler called for her execution. "She will disappear soon," one post said. Another person said that she would commit suicide after being hit in the head by two bullets. A netizen urged Trump's supporters to "hunt down her." Another said: "It's time for Ruby to die for her faith."
Paller did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
In Georgia, threats of violence for the "purpose of intimidating others" are felony. Federal law criminalizes threats that are sufficiently clear that these threats are enough to make a reasonable person worry about bodily harm or death.
Cobb County police did not respond to requests for comment on why the force did not investigate the hundreds of threats reported by Freeman. The Fulton County Police said it did not investigate because the two women did not formally report the incident to the police. In addition to Freeman telling the Fulton County police of the threats, her supervisor in the election office also asked the department to provide security details for the two women. County officials denied this request, saying that the threats against them did not rise to the level of crime.
Law enforcement agencies are more active in hunting down people who threaten prominent politicians. Since the 2020 election, the police have arrested at least 12 people, almost all of whom are Trump supporters, who have been threatening members of the US Congress. Last month, a New York man was arrested a few days after he was arrested for making death threats against New York Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who voted for Democratic President Joe Biden’s priority. An infrastructure bill.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, said that threats to election workers should be taken equally seriously. She told Reuters that she was pressing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to take action. . "This is an escalating problem," Klobuchar said. "The law enforcement agencies must start investigating the truth of these cases, which poses a great threat to our democracy."
The Justice Department stated that it is “fully committed to ensuring that all reported incidents of violent threats to election workers and officials are carefully evaluated to mitigate the threat. This includes victim outreach and FBI intervention, when things do rise to a criminal threat. To the extent possible, we will use all our criminal tools to actively investigate the matter, and proactively prosecute the matter when appropriate.”
Although those who threatened Freeman and Moss are rarely censored, election workers are under investigation for Trump's false fraud accusations against them. Freeman said she met with investigators from the FBI, GBI, and Georgia Secretary of State's Office on election day to answer questions about her work. "They are trying to figure out if we actually stole the votes," she said.
On December 4, the day after Trump’s allies publicly accused these women of fraud, the then Attorney General Bill Barr asked the then U.S. Attorney Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak in Atlanta to investigate these allegations. Said to be a former federal official who knew the matter directly. They said it was not because Barr suspected that these women had committed fraud. State officials have refuted Trump's claims. They added that, on the contrary, Barr wanted to be fully understood so that he could respond to Trump's inquiries.
Officials said that after that previously unreported discussion, FBI agents talked to Freeman and checked surveillance video and other evidence, and concluded that there was no fraud. The former official said that by the time Barr resigned on December 23, he was convinced that there was no wrongdoing. But one of the sources said that Trump continued to pressure the Justice Department. Trump also continued to accuse Moss and Freeman of fraud.
On June 9, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, during the Georgia primary election, Fulton County employee Shaye Moss scanned the mailed paper ballot at the Georgia World Congress Center. The photo was taken on June 9, 2020. Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Handout via Reuters
The FBI will not confirm or deny whether it is investigating the threat to the mother and daughter. Nationwide, only one person was arrested and charged with a federal crime involving threats to election officials in connection with the 2020 presidential campaign, and a woman was accused of threatening an election official in Michigan in December last year. The case is ongoing; the defendant pleaded not guilty.
In a statement, the FBI stated that it cooperates with other agencies to "identify and stop any potential threats to public safety" and "to the fullest investigation of any and all federal violations." Election officials reported on Reuters In June after his family members continued to be harassed, the US Department of Justice announced the establishment of a task force that month to investigate threats to election workers.
A department spokesperson said that the working group has "launched a nationwide criminal investigation." The working group has not announced any arrests.
Moss recalled that the first time she saw the impact of a threat was in early December 2020. She was shocked by the frequent messages of violence and racism. She said she was “just trapped and stood there for a while”.
"The first thing I think of is my son," Moss said.
The 14-year-old high school freshman is using her old mobile phone, which is her number since college. During the coronavirus pandemic, he needs the device to connect to the Internet for virtual learning, which is the only way for him to go online. Moss' annual income is only $36,000. She said she could not afford WiFi.
When threatened to drown her son's phone, he couldn't concentrate. His grades have fallen. Strangers beat him with threatening and racist voicemails and text messages.
She said one of them told him: "Fortunately it is 2020 and not 1920. You will be with your mother."
A threat shook her deeply. It said that she had a "cute little boy", which she thought was a secret threat to his life.
Her only child did not want to tell her about the threats he had received. "He has been trying to be my protector," the single mother said.
Instead, he started shutting down the phone to stop receiving threats, cutting off his only way of virtual learning. Moss didn't find out what he was doing until May. She said that by then all of his courses had failed and he had to attend summer school. When he came back next school year, the talented football player was unable to join the team. He must focus on his grades.
Before becoming a target of Trump supporters, Moss said she enjoyed being the outgoing face of the Fulton County election office, being filmed training videos, and answering voter phone calls. She stuffed her business card into the envelope of every voter registration application she sent. When voters called for help, she enjoyed talking to them.
Today, when her office phone rang, she dared not answer it and tried to avoid saying her name. She rarely leaves her cubicle. Except for commuting, she avoids going out in public. She said she had lost the strength to cook, clean or walk the dog.
Her son helped. When she was overwhelmed by pressure, he would bring her medicine and water.
"I can't enjoy anything," she said in a soft voice. "I just really lost myself."
Warning from the FBI
Like her daughter, Freeman immediately became the target of hundreds of threats and racial slander after Trump's team publicly accused her of fraud on December 3, 2020.
According to police reports reviewed by Freeman and Reuters, strangers appeared at Freeman's home in the following month and sometimes knocked on her door.
When Couty (a Kanye West publicist and Trump supporter) visited her, the vigilant Freeman called the police and arranged to meet and talk with Couty at the Cobb County Police Department. According to a police report, Couty told a police officer that Freeman was “in danger” and that she had “48 hours” to talk to her before the “unknown object” appeared at her home.
Freeman said that the next day, on January 5, an FBI agent called Freeman and urged her to leave her long-term home because it was not safe.
"What do you mean, leave?" She remembered telling her agent. She said that she would soon arrange to live in a friend's house.
The next day, January 6th—the day of the U.S. Capitol riots—Courty’s prediction that people would come to Freeman’s house within 48 hours proved to be correct. According to a lawsuit filed by Freeman and Moss against Gateway Pundit last week, Freeman fled hours before a group of angry Trump supporters surrounded her home, yelling through loudspeakers. Reuters was unable to independently confirm this incident.
Freeman left her friend's house two weeks later because she discovered that the arrested congressional mob had listed Freeman and her daughter on the list. She said that her owner began to worry about their own safety, so she packed up the car the next morning. She said that in the next six weeks, she lived in three different places.
In March, she returned home. She changed her appearance. But she said that her life has been turned upside down.
She said that out of fear, some friends stopped talking to her. She said that LaRuby's Unique Treasures, her 12-year-old clothing and accessories business, has lost most of its customers. Moss said that Freeman often sells her merchandise at events, usually in churches or sororities. After she changed her phone number and closed her social media account on the advice of the FBI, ordinary customers did not know how to contact her.
She said she feels safer now. Eleven cameras and three motion sensors are installed around her home. But this experience—the life of escape, the fear of the daughter, the struggle of the grandson’s school—has already affected her family.
"It's all because of this?" she said, referring to Trump's false statement about the mysterious suitcase full of votes. "That's not right."
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