I managed to watch a portion of the fourth day of the January 6th Committee hearings this afternoon.
What drew me to this particular section of the hearings was the focus on the efforts of defeated former President Trump and his acolytes to intimidate state election officials into changing the outcome of the 2020 election particularly in Georgia.
Of course, at the time, I was living in Atlanta and this was the center of conversation along with the special Senate elections which took place the day before the January 6th attacks. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his deputy Gabriel Sterling testified before the committee this afternoon. I remember his "sterling rebuke" of President Trump in December 2020 as local election workers were being threatened as they were carrying out their duties. I also remember Trump's hour plus long phone call with Raffensperger in January 2021 some of which was played during his testimony. Despite Trump's bellicosity and bullying, Raffensperger stood firm and recently won the Republican primary for his re-election bid.
Yet the people whose testimony resonated most deeply was that of former Georgia election workers "Shaye" Moss as well as the videotaped deposition of her mother Ruby Freeman. The two were directly maligned by defeated former President Trump and his then attorney (and former New York Mayor) Rudy Giuliani. Trump repeatedly called Freeman "a professional vote scammer" during his call with Raffensperger while Giuliani claimed Freeman and Moss passed USB drives "as if they're vials of heroin and cocaine" invoking racial tropes for good measure. In point of fact, Freeman handed Moss a ginger mint.
Trump and Giuliani's likes resulted in physical harassment against the family including Moss' elderly grandmother by Trump supporters forcing Freeman to leave her home for two months on the advice of the FBI. During her testimony this afternoon, Moss told the January 6th Committee:
It's turned my life upside down. I no longer give out my business card. I don't transfer calls. I don't want anyone knowing my name. I don't want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name out over the grocery aisle or something. I don't go to the grocery store at all. I haven't been anywhere at all. I've gained about 60 pounds. I just don't do anything anymore. I don't want to go anywhere. I second guess everything that I do. It has affected my life in a major way. In every way, all because of lies. Me doing my job. Same thing I've been doing forever.
In her videotaped deposition, Freeman stated:
Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States to target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American. Not to target one. He targeted me. A proud American citizen who stood up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of a pandemic.
The defeated former President of the United States and former Mayor of New York City saw fit to lie about two private citizens, damaged their reputations and made their lives a living hell. As such, I believe Freeman and Moss ought to sue Trump, Giuliani and anyone else involved in smearing them for slander. Trump and Giuliani put them through hell even though they both know they did nothing wrong much less broke any law.
Seeing Trump and Giuliani being compelled to compensate Freeman and Moss for their pain and suffering would be nearly as satisfying as seeing them go to jail.
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