Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former election worker in Georgia, testified to the House January 6th Committee during its fourth public hearing on June 21. She and her mother were the targets of a theory pushed by Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who accused them of processing fake ballots for Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Shaye Moss had worked for the Fulton County Elections Department since 2017, but had to leave her job and conceal her identity after she and her family received violent and racist threats as a result of Former President Donald Trump’s attacks and claims of her involvement in election fraud.
Moss’ mother, Ruby Freeman, temporarily served as an election worker during the election with her daughter, and was also the target of false election fraud allegations. Freeman’s video testimony to the committee was played during the fourth hearing, alongside her daughter’s live testimony.
Trump and Giuliani Targeted Innocent Election Workers
In a phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, leaked just days before the January 6 insurrection, former President Trump asked Raffensperger to overturn the Georgia election results and mentioned Freeman 18 times.
"I'll take on anybody you want with regard to Ruby Freeman, and her lovely daughter, a very lovely young lady, I'm sure. But Ruby Freeman, I will take on anybody you want," Trump said to Raffensperger.
Giuliani mentioned both Moss and Freeman in a virtual hearing with Georgia GOP lawmakers, saying, “they should have been questioned already. Their places of work, their homes should have been searched.”
Giuliani also falsely claimed that Moss handed her mother a flash drive on election night “like they were vials of heroin or cocaine.” Moss testified that her mother had actually handed her a ginger mint.
Moss and Freeman Received Threats as a Result of Allegations
Moss received many threats from those who believed Trump and Giuliani’s false allegations. She told the committee, "I went to [Facebook messages] and it was just a lot of horrible things there... a lot of threats, wishing death upon me, telling me that I'll be in jail with my mother and saying things like 'Be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920.'"
“A lot of them were racist,” Moss said about the messages she received.
Freeman said that she had to move from her house, given the amount of threats that she received. Strangers appeared at her home and sent pizza deliveries to her house that she did not order. She also testified that she has to hide her identity in public because of Trump’s allegations. “I don’t introduce myself by name anymore, I get nervous when I bump into someone who in the grocery store who says my name. I’m worried about who’s listening. I get nervous when I have to give my name for food orders,” Freeman testified. “I’ve lost my name. I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost my sense of security.”
Not only were Moss and Freeman targeted, so were Moss’ son and grandmother. Moss testified that someone showed up at her grandmother’s house, trying to make a “citizen's arrest.”