- Two former local Georgia election workers gave powerful testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee.
- Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman faced life-changing threats and harassment after 2020.
- “It turned my life upside down,” Moss, who quit working in elections as a result of the attacks, told the committee.
Photographers captured Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker falsely accused of criminal fraud by President Donald Trump and his allies, and her mother’s Ruby Freeman’s emotional testimony before the January 6 Committee in Tuesday’s hearing, which focused on the pressure campaigns and harassment faced by state legislators and election officials following the 2020 election.
Moss said she was inspired by her grandmother to work in elections and “loved” getting to serve her community.Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, is sworn in to testify before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
“I’ve always been told by my grandmother how important it is to vote and how people before me, a lot of older people in my family, did not have that right,” Moss said. “So what I loved most about my job were the older voters. Younger people could usually do everything from their phone or go online, but the older voters like to call, they like to talk to you.”
Moss testified with her mother, Ruby Freeman, at her side about how Trump and Giuliani singled them out and put them at the center of their lies about fraud in the 2020 election.Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, is comforted by her mother Ruby Freeman, right, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Moss recalled her bosses calling her into their office to tell her that Trump and his allies were using video footage from State Farm Arena, where ballots were being counted, to falsely accuse Moss and Freeman of wrongdoing.
“It was a very short clip of us working at State Farm and it had someone on the video talking over the video, just saying that we were doing things that we weren’t supposed to do, just lying throughout the video and that’s when I first found out about it.”
She added: “When I saw the video, of course, the first thing that I said was, ‘why are they doing this? What’s going on?’ And they just told me that Trump and his allies were not satisfied with the outcome of the election.
Moss grew emotional at times describing how the torrent of “racist” and “hateful” harassment and abuse upended her life.Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, wipes her eyes as she testifies before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
“It’s turned my life upside down,” Moss said. “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 gained about 60 pounds.”
“I just don’t do nothing anymore,” she went on. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I second-guess everything that I do. It’s affected my life in a major way, in every way. All because of lies for me doing my job, same thing I’ve been doing forever.”
The committee also showed clips of Freeman’s powerful closed-door testimony.Ruby Freeman hugs her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, after she testified beforet the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
“I’ve lost my name, and I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost my sense of security,” Freeman said. “All because a group of people starting with number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye in their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen.”
Freeman also described having to flee her home for months on the advice of the FBI in the lead-up to January 6, calling it “horrible.”
“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 President of the United States is supposed to represent every American. Not target one. But he targeted me: Lady Ruby, a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen, who stood up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of the pandemic.”
Several members of the January 6 Committee lined up to greet and hug Moss on their way out of the hearing room.Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., greets Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, after she testified before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Moss was also comforted by US Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who defended the Capitol on January 6.U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn greets Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, after she testified before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Freeman also got hugs from Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson…Ruby Freeman mother of Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, hugs Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.,
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
…and Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair.Vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., hugs Ruby Freeman, mother of Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker
Jacquelyn Martin/AP