Former Georgia election worker Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss got emotional as she recounted the death threats she received after her and her mother Ruby Freeman were named by former President Donald Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani in conspiracies related to the 2020 election, during the House January 6 Committee hearing on Tuesday, June 21. After showing a clip of Giuliani accusing the two election workers of orchestrating fraud in a state senate hearing, Moss said that she received “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, not 1920.'”
Shaye Moss, who was falsely accused by Trump, Giuliani and Fox News of carrying "suitcases" of ballots, testifies about the death threats she and her mom received.
"Telling me that, you know, I’ll be in jail with my mother and saying things like, be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920." pic.twitter.com/acc9bnobDa
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) June 21, 2022
After she recalled the death threats, the committee played a tape of Trump accusing both Moss and Freeman of being “vote scammers,” in a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. They asked how “horrible” she felt hearing the former president name her. “I felt bad for my mom, and I felt horrible for picking this job and being the one that always wants to help and always there. Never missing not one election. I just felt like it was my fault,” she said.
After the threats were made, Moss said that her life has changed “in a major way,” and she said that she hasn’t wanted to go out places or hand out business cards to voters. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I second guess everything that I do,” she said. “It affected my life in a major way. In every way. All ’cause of lies. Me, doing my job. The same thing I’ve been doing forever.”
After Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) finished questioning Moss, he played one more tape of Freeman, demonstrating how hurt she’s been by the threats against her as an election worker. “There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere,” she said. “Do you know how it feels to have the President of the United States target you?”
The hearing was the fourth session during the Select Committee’s investigation into the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Tuesday’s session focused on how Trump put pressure on local legislators (mostly in Georgia) to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Previous hearings had focused on Trump’s efforts to flip the 2020 race in his favor. During the prior hearing, the committee focused on the pressure that Trump put on his Vice President Mike Pence to stop the election results from being counted on January 6. Many details about that day were revealed in the hearing, including that rioters who stormed the Capitol came within about 40 feet of the vice president. The protesters at the January 6 rally notably chanted, calling for Pence to be hung. It was revealed the name-calling that Trump had directed at Pence before he was set to certify the election.
Throughout the recent hearings, the committee has shared much previously unseen evidence, trying to provide answers for the attack. One of the recent videos showed Republican Congressman Barry Loudermilk from Georgia giving a tour to a group of people on January 5, which included people who attended the rally the following day. He’s been requested to sit down for an interview with the committee after video footage of the people on his tour were taped making threatening messages against Democratic politicians.
During the committee’s first primetime hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney gave a passionate opening statement, where she said that the committee looked to show Trump’s involvement in the attack. “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” she said.