{"slug":"fulton-election-workers-freeman-moss-targeting","title":"Trump and Giuliani Target Fulton County Election Workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss (2020–2021)","date":"2020-12-10","lastUpdated":"2026-10-04","description":"After the 2020 election, Rudy Giuliani, acting as President Trump's lawyer, named Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea' \"Shaye\" Moss before Georgia legislators and falsely accused them of ballot fraud using a misleadingly edited State Farm Arena video. The federal indictment of Trump states that the two women then received numerous death threats. On the 2 January 2021 call to Georgia's Secretary of State, Trump himself named Freeman repeatedly and called her \"a professional vote scammer and hustler\". State and federal investigators found no wrongdoing, and a federal jury ordered Giuliani to pay the women $148 million for defamation.","summary":"A sitting president and his lawyer publicly accused two named election workers of fraud that state officials had already debunked. The women received death threats and racist abuse, Freeman left her home on FBI advice, and both were later formally cleared. A jury ordered Giuliani to pay $148 million for defamation; Trump later pardoned Giuliani for federal 2020-election offences.","category":"civil-rights","severity":"severe","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump_23_cr_257.pdf","title":"Indictment, United States v. Donald J. Trump, No. 1:23-cr-00257 (D.D.C.), 1 August 2023","publisher":"U.S. Department of Justice"},{"url":"https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1106459556/shaye-moss-staffed-an-election-office-in-georgia-then-she-was-targeted-by-trump","title":"Shaye Moss staffed an election office in Georgia. Then she was targeted by Trump","publisher":"NPR"},{"url":"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/23/georgia-election-worker-cleared-trump-giuliani-vote-2020","title":"Two Georgia election workers cleared of wrongdoing in 2020 elections","publisher":"The Guardian"},{"url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20250922194142/https://apnews.com/article/ruby-freeman-shaye-moss-gateway-pundit-settlement-3c55e2c7cf75cf0f8dc6496da14b094e","title":"Georgia election workers settle defamation lawsuit against conservative website","publisher":"Associated Press (via Internet Archive)"},{"url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20241229222256/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/us/politics/rudy-giuliani-defamation-trial-damages.html","title":"Jury Orders Giuliani to Pay $148 Million to Election Workers He Defamed","publisher":"The New York Times (via Internet Archive)"},{"url":"https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/16/politics/rudy-giuliani-georgia-election-workers-defamation-settlement/index.html","title":"Rudy Giuliani reaches settlement with Georgia election workers","publisher":"CNN (via Internet Archive)"},{"url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/11/14/2025-19928/granting-pardons-for-certain-offenses-related-to-the-2020-presidential-election","title":"Proclamation 10989: Granting Pardons for Certain Offenses Related to the 2020 Presidential Election","publisher":"Federal Register"},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_prosecution_of_Donald_Trump_(election_obstruction_case)","title":"Federal prosecution of Donald Trump (election obstruction case) — dismissal on 25 November 2024","publisher":"Wikipedia"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["election workers","Ruby Freeman","Shaye Moss","Rudy Giuliani","2020 election","defamation","Georgia","threats"],"relatedEntries":["trump-raffensperger-georgia-call-find-votes","georgia-election-interference-call","trump-election-fraud-claims-60-court-losses"],"timeline":[{"date":"2020-12-03","title":"Edited State Farm Arena video shown to Georgia Senate committee","summary":"A member of Trump's legal team shows Georgia senators an excerpt of surveillance video and claims election workers counted hidden ballots after observers left. The Gateway Pundit publishes Freeman's name the same day, according to the women's lawsuit (AP; indictment ¶21)."},{"date":"2020-12-04","title":"Georgia officials debunk the claim","summary":"The Secretary of State's chief operating officer says investigators watched the full footage and it 'shows normal ballot processing' (indictment ¶23)."},{"date":"2020-12-10","title":"Giuliani names the two workers before the Georgia House","summary":"Giuliani accuses the two named workers of passing USB drives 'as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine' and says their homes should be searched. The indictment states they then received numerous death threats (¶26)."},{"date":"2020-12-15","title":"DOJ tells Trump the tape shows nothing improper","summary":"Incoming acting Justice Department leadership tells Trump in the Oval Office that the State Farm Arena activity was 'benign' (indictment ¶27)."},{"date":"2021-01-02","title":"Trump names Freeman on Raffensperger call","summary":"Trump repeatedly names Freeman and calls her 'a professional vote scammer and hustler'; Raffensperger says the video was 'sliced and diced' (indictment ¶31(a); NPR)."},{"date":"2021-01-06","title":"FBI advises Freeman she is not safe at home","summary":"Freeman relocates for two months and abandons her clothing business, according to her lawsuit as reported by AP."},{"date":"2022-06-21","title":"Moss testifies to the January 6 Committee","summary":"Moss describes threats, racist messages and a stranger arriving at her grandmother's home to make a 'citizen's arrest' (NPR)."},{"date":"2023-06-20","title":"State Election Board clears both women","summary":"A report closing the Board's investigation finds all allegations 'unsubstantiated' after interviews by the FBI, GBI and Secretary of State investigators (The Guardian)."},{"date":"2023-12-15","title":"Jury awards $148 million against Giuliani","summary":"A federal jury in Washington awards compensatory, emotional-distress and punitive damages after Judge Howell had already found Giuliani liable for defamation (New York Times)."},{"date":"2025-01-16","title":"Giuliani settles with Freeman and Moss","summary":"Giuliani reaches a settlement allowing him to keep his homes in exchange for undisclosed compensation and a promise not to defame them again (CNN)."},{"date":"2025-11-07","title":"Trump pardons Giuliani for 2020-election federal offences","summary":"Proclamation 10989 grants a 'full, complete, and unconditional pardon' for conduct relating to alternate elector slates and 'efforts to expose voting fraud'; Giuliani is named in it (Federal Register)."}],"location":{"name":"Atlanta, Georgia","lat":33.7573,"lng":-84.3963},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"judicial-finding","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 17","provision":"Protection against unlawful attacks on honour and reputation"},{"statute":"International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights","article":"Article 25","provision":"Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs and genuine elections; protects the electoral process that election workers administer"},{"statute":"International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination","article":"Article 4(c)","provision":"States shall not permit public authorities to promote or incite racial discrimination; engaged by the racist character of the threats the targeting produced"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Ruby Freeman, a temporary Fulton County election worker, and her daughter Wandrea' ArShaye \"Shaye\" Moss, a Fulton County elections employee; members of their family who were also harassed.","perpetrators":"Rudolph Giuliani (personal lawyer to the President); President Donald Trump (2 January 2021 call); members of the Trump legal team who first presented the video","keyPoints":["On 10 December 2020 Giuliani, presenting to a Georgia House committee, played the State Farm Arena video again, named two election workers, accused them of 'surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine', and said their homes should be searched; the indictment states that 'the two election workers received numerous death threats' (US v. Trump indictment ¶26).","Georgia's Secretary of State's office had already debunked the video claim on 4 December, and Justice Department officials told Trump on 15 December that the activity on the tape was 'benign' (indictment ¶¶23, 27).","On the 2 January 2021 call to Brad Raffensperger, Trump named Freeman 18 times by NPR's count ('almost twenty times' per the indictment) and called her 'a professional vote scammer and hustler'; Raffensperger replied that the video had been 'sliced and diced' (indictment ¶31(a); NPR; AP).","The FBI concluded on 6 January 2021 that Freeman was not safe at home and she relocated for two months; Moss described racist threats, including 'Be glad it's 2020 and not 1920', and left her job (AP; NPR).","The Georgia State Election Board formally cleared both women in June 2023: 'All allegations made against Freeman and Moss were unsubstantiated and found to have no merit' (The Guardian).","On 15 December 2023 a federal jury ordered Giuliani to pay the women $148 million after Judge Beryl Howell had already ruled he defamed them (New York Times). They later settled with Giuliani (January 2025), OAN (2022) and The Gateway Pundit (CNN; AP).","Trump's federal election case, which described this episode, was dismissed in November 2024 after his election; Proclamation 10989 (7 November 2025) pardoned Giuliani and others for 2020-election-related federal offences. The pardon does not affect the civil judgment."],"searchAliases":["Ruby Freeman","Shaye Moss","State Farm Arena video","vote scammer and hustler"],"legalBasis":"Defamation (adjudicated against Giuliani); First Amendment limits do not protect knowingly false statements of fact; ICCPR Art. 17 (honour and reputation) and Art. 25 (genuine elections). No international-crime characterisation is in play.","postureNote":"Giuliani was found liable for defamation and ordered to pay $148 million (December 2023), then settled (January 2025). The State Election Board cleared both women (June 2023). The federal indictment's description of this episode is an allegation; that case was dismissed in November 2024. Trump personally was not a defendant in the women's civil suits. His own words on the 2 January call do not depend on the indictment: the call was recorded and published, and AP and NPR quote it independently (18 mentions of Freeman; \"a professional vote scammer and hustler\"; \"I'll take on anybody you want with regard to Ruby Freeman\"). Giuliani was pardoned for federal offences on 7 November 2025; the pardon has no effect on the civil judgment or on Georgia state proceedings.","relatedIncidents":["trump-raffensperger-georgia-call-find-votes","georgia-election-interference-call","trump-election-fraud-claims-60-court-losses"]}}