There Are No Girls on the Internet - Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss are American heroes — BEST OF TANGOTI

Episode Date: December 26, 2023

Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss, two election workers he baselessly maligned in Georgia, almost 50 million dollars. And they might even sue him again! Here’s how we got here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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the drama, the alliances, M&T, everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay Ruby Freeman and Seymoss, the election workers that he and Donald Trump baselessly maligned as having tampered with votes during the 2020 election in Georgia, almost $50 million. And because he just can't help himself, during the court proceedings, Giuliani would still go outside the courtroom and continue to lie and say that these two women tampered with votes, even while his attorney was inside the court conceding that there was no proof of any of this. He even went on newsmax and continued to say that he had video proof that these women were involved in vote tampering. Now, Ruby and Shea's attorneys have already filed another injunction for these ongoing statements,

meaning they very well could sue him again and win again if he doesn't knock it off. Honestly, I hope they take him for every cent that he's worth because his behavior really turned their lives upside down and put them in danger. For folks who haven't heard it, their testimony in the January 6th committee was among the most moving that I heard. and we really need to understand how misogyny, racism, and lies all intermingled to put their lives at risk. This doesn't just hurt women like Ruby and Shea who are targeted. Attacks on election workers and poll counters, the women who make our democracy work. And it is overwhelmingly women make us all less safe. So listen to our breakdown of their testimony from last year's January 6th committee. There Are No Girls on the Internet is a production of IHeart Radio and Unbossed Creative.

I'm Bridget Todd, and this is there are no girls on the internet. So here in the United States, we're on day four of hearings around the deadly January 6th insurrection, where Trump supporters stormed the Capitol believing Trump's repeated lies that the 2022 presidential election had been stolen from him and that he was the actual winner. I obviously don't feel like I need to tell you that that was complete bullshit. And it really goes to show the power and danger that can happen when lies and disinformation are weaponized. People died. Now, in that hearing, we heard the testimony of Ruby and Shea Freeman, and it really broke me.

And I think it's important for everyone to hear, in their own words, how their livelihoods and safety were jeopardized by racist, sexist lies. So if you don't know, 62-year-old Ruby and her daughter, Shea Freeman, were both election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, a state where Trump legitimately lost, and where he would go on to pressure Georgia's secretary of state to, quote, find votes for him. In an attempt to cast doubt on the election, Trump and his henchman Rudy Giuliani repeatedly named Ruby and Shea, both of whom are black women, as specific election workers who were rigging the election in favor of Biden. Now, this was an outright lie based on nothing, and it basically destroyed their lives. Trump and his allies obtained video of the women and baselessly lied about those videos, saying they showed evidence of the women vote tampering. In one video, Trump and Giuliani claimed the women carried suitcases with as many as 18,000 ballots all for Joe Biden. Complete bullshit. There aren't even suitcases in the video.

They were just the normal boxes that ballots are kept and moved in. Trump also said that video of the women counting votes at the state farm arena showed the fraudulent processing of ballots. Also bullshit. State officials repeatedly cleared the women and all election workers of any mishandling of votes. Complete nonsense. But none of this stopped Trump and his cronies from putting these women. in real danger by repeatedly lying about it. And we need to be really open about the ways

that they specifically used racism and misogyny to fuel this attack. I don't think these lies would have worked in the same way had Ruby and her daughter not been black women, who we know are disproportionately harmed by disinformation and online harassment. Just listen to what Giuliani said about the women and tell me it is not a racist line of attack.

Tape earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman and Shea Freeman Mars and one other gentleman, quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine. I mean, it's obvious to anyone who's a criminal investigator or prosecutor, they are engaged in surreptitiously illegal activity, again, that day. And after a week ago, and they're still walking around Georgia,

lying. They should have been questioned already. There are places of work. their homes should have been searched, to evidence of ballots, for evidence of USB ports, for evidence of voter fraud. So Giuliani accuses the women

of passing votes on a USB drive back and forth, which already, like, what? But in reality... What was your mom actually handing you on that video? A gingerment. Trump also accused the women of vote tampering, baselessly attacking them by first and last name. We had at least 18,000 that's on tape.

We had them counted very mistakenly 18,000 voters having to do with Ruby Freeman. She's a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler. Okay, so here's what I think people are not saying clear enough. I think that Trump and Giuliani just saw video of two black women in Georgia and knew that they could say that those black women were the culprits, that those black women were liars, and those black women were the reason that Trump lost the election. The same way that Trump has repeatedly attacked black women, like White House correspondent April Ryan, I think that he knew that his base would be poised and ready to believe it because they have a visceral hate and distrust and disdain

for black women, and that they would be ready to believe that the visual of black women working at a Georgia polling place would be proof to convince them that something shady was going on. They basically just said to their racist supporters, hey, look at this video. It shows that black women were involved in the vote counting process in Georgia, and that should be evidence enough that the election was rigged. His attacks really weaponized their identities against them and relies on tropes about black women being untrustworthy,

which we see time and time again with disinformation and online harassment. This led to a flood of racist death threats and harassment against Ruby and Shea. At first, mostly centralized around Facebook Messenger. Here's Shay's testimony. So I'm just asking him like, where are the messages? All I see is the feeds. Like, how do you get to the messages? And he said, it's another icon on your phone that says messenger. And I went to that icon and it was just a lot of horrible things there. And those horrible things that they include threats? Yes, 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 20-20 and not 1920.

So obviously saying you'll be glad it's 20-20 and not 19-20 is a reference to her being lynched and killed, which is just disgusting. And Shay's testimony about how she felt is really heartbreaking. I felt horrible. I felt like it was all my fault. Like, if I would have never decided to be an elections worker, like, I could have done anything else, but that's what I decided to do.

And now people are lying and spreading rumors and lies and attacking my mom. I'm her only child. Going to my grandmother's house. I'm her only grandchild. And my kid is just, I felt so much. bad. I just 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 of putting my family in this situation. Shay's mom, Ruby, describes how she was always

so proud of her nickname, Lady Ruby, and how as a business owner and community staple in Georgia, everybody knew her as Lady Ruby. She even had a staple shirt with Lady Ruby bedazzled on it that she wore all the time. But because of Trump at his camp's lies, she no longer even uses her name because it doesn't feel safe. She says she hasn't worn that shirt since 2020.

Now I won't even introduce myself by my name anymore. I get nervous when I bump into someone. I know 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. I'm always concerned of who's around me. I've lost my name and I've lost my reputation. I've lost my sense of security.

All because a group of people starting with number 45 and his ally, Rudy Giuliani, decided to escape go. me and my daughter, Shea, to push their own lives about how the presidential election was stolen. Shea and Ruby, once pillars of their community, have basically been resigned to a life of hiding for their own safety. Ms. Moss, how is this experience of being targeted by the former president and his allies affected your life? He'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. Let's take a quick break. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guide, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends,

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In addition to the mixed bag of Trump cronies, who you've probably heard about, Ruby and Shea were also being harassed and threatened by a woman named Travani Kudi. Travani was formerly a publicist for the R&B singer slash convicted sex criminal R. Kelly. So yeah, it sure seems like she really knows how to pick men to associate herself with. Trivani claims to have had some kind of association with rapper Kanye West, who you may recall ran for president himself alongside Trump in 2020 before becoming a vocal Trump supporter. According to NBC News,

a biography of Trevani posted on the website of the Women's Global Initiative, a business networking conference, identified her as a member of the quote, young black leadership council under President Donald Trump. And that same biography noted that in September of 2018, she, quote, was secured as a publicist to Kanye West

and now serves as West's director of operations. Now, I should also say that Kanye West's says that Trevani was not associated with them. Here's a statement they released. Trivani Cootie was not associated with Kanye West or any of his enterprises at the time of the facts that are reported in these articles or since these facts occurred. In any event, when Trirvani showed up at Shea and Ruby's door, the women, understandably, were pretty freaked out and they called police to be present for the conversation. Trivani told them that she was visiting at the direction of a, quote, high-profile individual who warned that if the women did not confess

to voter fraud allegations, they would be arrested after 48 hours. So if that's not enough, this is where it gets really weird. According to Rolling Stone, the police body cam footage of the conversation show Trivani telling the women, quote, I cannot tell you specifically what will take place, I just know that it will disrupt your freedom, and the freedom of one or more of your family members. You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up.

Kuti then put a man called Harrison Ford on speakerphone, who said that he could offer the women's protection. You're probably wondering, is it that Harrison Ford from Indiana Jones and Star Wars? I was thinking the same thing. No, it is not. But according to the body cam audio, the man told the women,

if she confessed to voter fraud, he would offer her legal protection, but if she declined, she would go to jail. So Ruby and Shea obviously did not believe this woman, but later, because of the web of lies that the Trump machine spread about them, Trump supporters did show up to their home. Back to Ruby's testimony.

Around the week of January 6th, the FBI informed me that I needed to leave my home for safety. And I left my home for safety around that time. So they had to flee their home for their own safety, which is bad enough. But here's where it gets even scarier. Trump supporters actually tried to break in to Shay's grandmother's home to make a quote, citizens arrest. I received a call for my grandmother. Woman is my everything.

I've never even heard her or seen her cry ever in my life. And she called me screaming at the top of her lungs like, Shea, she! Oh my God, Shea! Just freaking me out saying that there were people at her home and they, you know, they knocked on the door and of course she opened it and seeing who was there, who it was, and they just started pushing their way through, claiming that they were coming in to make a citizen's arrest. They needed to find me and my mom. They knew we were

there. And she was just screaming and didn't know what to do. And I wasn't, you know, there, so, you know, I just felt so helpless and so horrible for her. I honestly cannot even imagine how terrifying it must have been to have an angry, potentially armed mob of Trump supporters show up at your elderly grandmother's home and try to force their way in. All of this because Trump and his allies repeatedly lied. And his lies were fueled by hatred and distrust of black women. Now, people are calling Ruby and Shea heroes. You know, they serve their community during a pandemic, and the president put their lives at risk because of it. And even in testifying and speaking

up about what they experienced, they're sure to be at even more risk. So what they did is indeed heroic. But here's the thing. Black women shouldn't have to be put in such great danger for a country that is weaponized against them. Shea says that every single election worker that she worked with at the polling center in 2020 in Georgia has now quit. And honestly, I don't blame them. Who would want to open themselves up to these kinds of harassment and attacks for just trying to serve the public and do their jobs. Ruby and Shea have sued the right-wing website, The Gateway Pundit, and its owners for defamation, for publishing stories that, quote, instigated a deluge of harassment, intimidation, and threats, and forced them to change their phone numbers, delete their

online accounts, and fear for their physical safety. And they also settled a suit with one American news network. And honestly, I hope they get every last dime of these people's money. But no amount of money can make right what happened to them. I think Lady Ruby really puts it best. There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. 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. But he targeted me. Lady Rudy, a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who stand up to help Fulton County running the election in the middle of the pandemic. If you're looking for ways to support the show, check out our merch store at tangoody.com slash store. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi? You can reach us at hello at tangoity.com. You can also find transcripts for today's episode at tangoity.com. There are No Girls on the Internet

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