ATLANTA, Dec 10 — Weeks after the 2020 election, a Chicago publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West traveled to the suburban home of Ruby Freeman, a frightened Georgia election worker who was facing death threats after being falsely accused by former President Donald Trump of manipulating votes. The publicist knocked on the door and offered to help.
(CNN)
Investigators probing efforts to meddle with the 2020 election results in Georgia have sought testimony from a former publicist to R. Kelly and Kanye West who allegedly pressured a local election worker, according to court documents obtained by CNN.
The publicist, Trevian Kutti, made headlines last year when
Reuters reported that Kutti had pressed a Georgia election worker to confess to Donald Trump's baseless voter fraud claims or face dire consequences. Kutti told the election worker she was a "crisis manager and was sent from a high-profile individual," according to a police report included in the court filing.
A special grand jury could hear from Kutti and a number of other witnesses as early as this week. Several current and former officials in the Georgia secretary of state's office have been subpoenaed to testify. Among them: former investigator Frances Watson, who Trump called in December 2020, telling her she would be "praised" for finding fraud. Gabe Sterling, the chief operating officer, who pleaded with Trump to denounce the harassment of election officials and their families, is also expected to testify.
www.cnn.com/...
Moss & Freeman are a mother-daughter duo who processed ballots in Fulton County, GA.
They were accused of many crimes, like unloading "suitcases" of fake Biden ballots, double-counting ballots, and tampering w/ voting machines.
The "crime of the century," Giuliani claimed. 2/
These accusations, echoed by Trump himself, turned Moss and Freeman's lives inside out.
They received racist and violent threats, their careers suffered, and they feared for their safety.
Ruby Freeman had to flee her home for two months, she testified. See below... 3/
Moss and Freeman became just the latest private citizens to become victims of viral, harmful conspiracy theories related to politics and elections.
So, what could they do to clear their names?
They sued
@OANN, Rudy Giuliani, and several others. 4/
Here's where we get to the intriguing backstory I mentioned at the start of this thread.
Seated behind Shaye Moss and next to Ruby Freeman at today's
@January6thCmte hearing were two of their lawyers, Mike Gottlieb & Meryl Governski.
(They're to the left of Ruby in the red.) 5/
So why do I mention these two lawyers?
For nearly six years, Gottlieb & Governski have been developing a playbook for how the law can combat viral conspiracy theories and defend victims.
Stop the Steal 1.0?✅
Pizzagate?✅
Seth Rich's brother?✅
6/
For years I've followed Gottlieb and Governski's work — and the work of the lawyers they team up with — as part of my book reporting about the Seth Rich saga.
They're on the leading edge of this work. And they've gotten results time and again. 7/
rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
These lawyers would be the first to tell you that today belongs to Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman.
You really should watch their testimony if you haven't:
However, if you want to know the inside story of how a small band of lawyers fought viral lies...
8/
...well, I've got a book for you.
I spent years watching Gottlieb, Governski, and their colleagues figure out how to fight for truth and facts in this truth-challenged era of ours.
It's in my upcoming book. Check it out — and thanks for following along.
Post-script: If you want to read more about these lawyers' work on behalf of Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman partnering with
@protctdemocracy, there's a wealth of information here:
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