Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, an election worker from Georgia, has been at the center of controversial voter fraud allegations spread by former President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Both Republican politicians accused Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman of stealing votes for the Democrats during the 2020 presidential election. This week, during the Jan. 6 hearings, the Georgia native gave an emotional testimony hoping to set the record straight about the startling accusations.
According to Moss, she and her mother were working at the polls in Fulton County, Georgia during the 2020 election. Trump, Giuliani, and other right-wing politicians spread a false conspiracy theory accusing election workers in the area of tampering with the vote count to help Joe Biden win the race.
To support their theory, Trump and his allies circulated surveillance footage that allegedly showed Moss, her mother, and a group of election workers packing ballots into suitcases. However, fact-checkers at USA Today later discovered that the group was packing away absentee ballots into storage containers because they thought that their work was done for the day.
Moss said that Trump referred to her mother as a “professional vote scammer” and a “hustler.” Giuliani also claimed that Moss handed her mother a USB thumb drive “like they were vials of heroin or cocaine.”
Moss and her mother were forced into hiding due to vicious death threats
During a private phone call with the secretary of state, the former president mentioned Moss and her mother’s name nearly 18 times alleging the mother-daughter duo of voter fraud according to PBS. The call was reportedly leaked to the public, and as a result, Moss and her mother were targeted with death threats and harassment online from Trump supporters.
“A lot of them were racist. A lot of them were just hateful,” Moss told the Jan. 6 committee while holding back tears. Fearful for her life and her safety, Moss was forced to go into hiding. She eventually quit her job due to the backlash.
“I haven’t been anywhere at all,” she said, before detailing how the allegations have turned her life “upside down.”
“I no longer give out my business card … I don’t want anyone knowing my name, I don’t go to the grocery store at all. I’ve gained about 60 pounds. I just don’t do nothing anymore,” she added tearfully. “I second guess everything that I do. It’s affected my life in a major way — in every way. All because of lies.”
Ms. Freeman also shared how her life has changed since the devastating rumor surfaced. During her testimony, Freeman told the panel that she not only lost her name but her “reputation,” too.
“I’ve lost my sense of security all because a group of people starting with Number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter, Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen,” she said. “There is nowhere I feel safe, nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. He targeted me, lady ruby, a small business owner, mother, and proud American citizen.”
You can watch more of Ruby Freeman’s testimony below.
