Speaker 1: Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay Ruby Freeman and
Speaker 1: Shay Moss, the election workers that he and Donald Trump
Speaker 1: baselessly maligned as having tampered with votes during the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty election in Georgia almost fifty million dollars. And because
Speaker 1: he just can't help himself. During the court proceedings, Juliani
Speaker 1: would still go outside the courtroom and continue to lie
Speaker 1: and say that these two women tampered with votes, even
Speaker 1: while his attorney was inside the court conceding that there
Speaker 1: was no proof of any of this. He even went
Speaker 1: on Newsmax and continued to say that he had video
Speaker 1: proof that these women were involved in vote tampering. Now,
Speaker 1: Ruby and Shay's attorneys have already filed another injunction for
Speaker 1: these ongoing statements, meaning they very well could sue him
Speaker 1: again and win again if he doesn't knock it off. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I hope they take him for every cent that he's worth,
Speaker 1: because his behavior really turned their lives upside down and
Speaker 1: put them in danger. For folks who haven't heard it,
Speaker 1: their testimony in the January sixth committee was among the
Speaker 1: most moving that I heard, and we really need to
Speaker 1: understand how misogyny, racism, and lies, all intermingled to put
Speaker 1: their lives at risk. This doesn't just hurt women like
Speaker 1: Ruby and Shay who are targeted attacks on election workers
Speaker 1: and poll counters. The women who make our democracy work,
Speaker 1: and it is overwhelmingly women make us all less safe.
Speaker 1: So listen to our breakdown of their testimony from last
Speaker 1: year's January sixth committee. There Are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 1: As a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative, I'm brigittat
Speaker 1: and this is there are No Girls on the Internet.
Speaker 1: So here in the United States, we're on day four
Speaker 1: of hearings around the deadly January sixth insurrection, where Trump
Speaker 1: supporters storm the Capitol believing Trump's repeated lies that the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two presidential election had been stolen from him
Speaker 1: and that he was the actual winner. I obviously don't
Speaker 1: feel like I need to tell you that that was
Speaker 1: complete bullshit, and it really goes to show the power
Speaker 1: and danger that can happen when lies and disinformation are weaponized.
Speaker 1: People died. Now in that hearing, we heard the testimony
Speaker 1: of Ruby and Shae Freeman, and it really broke me,
Speaker 1: and I think it's important for everyone to hear in
Speaker 1: their own words how their livelihoods and safety were jeopardized
Speaker 1: by racist, sexist lies. So if you don't know, sixty
Speaker 1: two year old Ruby and her daughter, Shae Freeman were
Speaker 1: both election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, a state where
Speaker 1: Trump legitimately lost and where he would go on to
Speaker 1: pressure Georgia's Secretary of State to quote fine votes for him.
Speaker 1: In an attempt to cast doubt on the election, Trump
Speaker 1: and his henchman Rudy Giuliani repeatedly named Ruby and Shay,
Speaker 1: both of whom are black women, as specific election workers
Speaker 1: who were rigging the election in favor of Biden. Now,
Speaker 1: this was an outright lie based on nothing, and it
Speaker 1: basically destroyed their lives. Trump and his allies obtained video
Speaker 1: of the women and baselessly lied about those videos, saying
Speaker 1: they showed evidence of the women vote hampering. In one video,
Speaker 1: Trump and Juliani claimed the women carried suitcases with as
Speaker 1: many as eighteen thousand ballots, all for Joe Biden. Complete bullshit.
Speaker 1: There aren't even suitcases in the video. They were just
Speaker 1: the normal boxes that ballots are kept and moved in.
Speaker 1: Trump also said that video of the women counting vote
Speaker 1: that the state farm arena showed. The fraudulent processing of
Speaker 1: ballots also bullshit. State officials repeatedly cleared the women and
Speaker 1: all election workers of any mishandling of votes, complete nonsense.
Speaker 1: But none of this stopped Trump and his croonies from
Speaker 1: putting these women in real danger by repeatedly lying about it.
Speaker 1: And we need to be really open about the ways
Speaker 1: that they specifically used racism and misogyny to fuel this attack.
Speaker 1: I don't think these lies would have worked in the
Speaker 1: same way had Ruby and her daughter not been black women,
Speaker 1: who we know are disproportionately harmed by disinformation and online harassment.
Speaker 1: Just listen to what Juliani said about the women and
Speaker 1: tell me it is not a racist line of attack.
Speaker 2: Tay earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman and Shay
Speaker 2: Freeman Laws and one other gentleman obviously surreptitiously passing around
Speaker 2: us be ports as if they are vials of heroin
Speaker 2: or cocaine. I mean, it's it's obvious to anyone who's
Speaker 2: a criminal investigator or prosecutor they are engaged in surreptitious
Speaker 2: the illegal activity. Again that day and after a week
Speaker 2: ago and they're still walking around Georgia. Why should have
Speaker 2: been they should have been uh should have been.
Speaker 3: Questioned already, h there are places of work, their homes
Speaker 3: should have been searched for evidence of ballance, evidence of
Speaker 3: us v poorts, for evidence of voter fraud.
Speaker 1: So Juliani accuses the women of passing votes on a
Speaker 1: USB drive back and forth, which already like what but
Speaker 1: in reality.
Speaker 4: What was your mom actually handing you on that video?
Speaker 5: Ginger man.
Speaker 1: Trump also accused the women of vote tampering, basically attacking
Speaker 1: them by first and last name.
Speaker 5: We had.
Speaker 6: At least eighteen thousand, that's saw on pay We had
Speaker 6: him counted very thankstakingly, eighteen thousand voters having to do
Speaker 6: with the Ruby Freeman, that she's a vote scammer, a
Speaker 6: professional vote scammer and hustler.
Speaker 1: Okay, So here's what I think people are not saying
Speaker 1: clear enough. I think that Trump and Giuliani just saw
Speaker 1: video of two black women in Georgia and knew that
Speaker 1: they could say that those black women were the culprits,
Speaker 1: that those black women were liars, and those black women
Speaker 1: were the reason that Trump lost the election, the same
Speaker 1: way that Trump has repeatedly attacked black women like White
Speaker 1: House correspondent April Ryan. I think that he knew that
Speaker 1: his base would be poised and ready to believe it
Speaker 1: because they have a visceral hate and distrust and disdain
Speaker 1: for black women, and that they would be ready to
Speaker 1: believe that the visual of black women working at a
Speaker 1: Georgia polling place would be proof to convince them that
Speaker 1: something shady was going on. They basically just said to
Speaker 1: their racist supporters, hey, look at this video. It shows
Speaker 1: that black women were involved in the vote counting process
Speaker 1: in Georgia, and that should be evidence enough that the
Speaker 1: election was rigged. His attacks really weaponized their identities against
Speaker 1: them and relies on tropes about black women being untrustworthy,
Speaker 1: which we see time and time again with disinformation and
Speaker 1: online harassment. This led to a flood of racist death
Speaker 1: threats and harassment against Ruby and Shay, at first, mostly
Speaker 1: centralized around Facebook Messenger. Here's Shay's testimony.
Speaker 5: So I'm just ask him, like, where are the messages?
Speaker 5: All I see is the fees, Like how do you
Speaker 5: get to the messages? And he said, it's another icon
Speaker 5: on your phone that says messenger. And I went to
Speaker 5: that icon and it was just a lot of horrible.
Speaker 4: Things there, and those horrible things that they include threats.
Speaker 5: Yes, a lot of threats, wishing deaths upon me, telling
Speaker 5: me that you know, I'll be in jail with my mother,
Speaker 5: and and saying things like be glad it's twenty twenty
Speaker 5: and not nineteen twenty.
Speaker 1: So obviously saying you'll be glad it's twenty twenty and
Speaker 1: not nineteen twenty, it's a reference to her being lynched
Speaker 1: and killed, which is just disgusting, and Shay's testimony about
Speaker 1: how she felt is really heartbreaking.
Speaker 5: I felt horrible. I felt like it was all my fault,
Speaker 5: Like if I would have never decided to be an
Speaker 5: elections worker, like I could have done anything else, but
Speaker 5: that's what I decided to do. And now people are
Speaker 5: lying and spreading rumors and lies and attacking my mom.
Speaker 5: I'm her only child, going to my grandmother's house. I'm
Speaker 5: her only grandchild and my kid. It's just I felt
Speaker 5: so bad. I felt bad for my mom, and I
Speaker 5: felt horrible for picking this job and being the one
Speaker 5: that always wants to help and always there, never missing
Speaker 5: out one election. I just felt like it was my fault.
Speaker 5: I'm putting my family in this situation.
Speaker 1: She's mom. Ruby describes how she was always so proud
Speaker 1: of her nickname Lady Ruby, and how as a business
Speaker 1: owner and community staple in Georgia, everybody knew her as
Speaker 1: Lady Ruby. She even had a staple shirt with Lady
Speaker 1: Ruby but dazzled on it that she wore all the time.
Speaker 1: But because of Trump at his camp's lives, she no
Speaker 1: longer even uses her name because it doesn't feel safe.
Speaker 1: She said, she hasn't worn that shirt since twenty twenty.
Speaker 7: Now I won't even introduce my self by my name anymore.
Speaker 7: I get nervous when I bump into someone I know
Speaker 7: in the grocery store who says my name. I'm worried
Speaker 7: about who's listening. I get nervous when I have to
Speaker 7: give my name for food orders. I'm always concerned of
Speaker 7: who's around me. I've lost my name and I've lost
Speaker 7: my reputation. I've lost my sense of security, all because
Speaker 7: a group of people, starting with number forty five and
Speaker 7: his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to escape goat me and
Speaker 7: my daughter to Shay to push their own lives about
Speaker 7: how the presidential election was stolen.
Speaker 1: Shane Ruby once pillars of their community have basically been
Speaker 1: resigned to a life of hiding for their own safety.
Speaker 4: Is Moss, How is this experience of being targeted by
Speaker 4: the former president and his allies affected your life?
Speaker 5: It's started my life upside down. I no longer give
Speaker 5: out my business card, I don't transfer calls. I don't
Speaker 5: want anyone knowing my name. I don't want to go
Speaker 5: anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name
Speaker 5: out over the grocery al or something. I don't go
Speaker 5: to the grocery store at all. I haven't been anywhere.
Speaker 8: At all. Let's hit a quick break at her back.
Speaker 1: Now, this detail didn't come up on the hearing at all,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to talk about it because I think
Speaker 1: it adds some important, if not totally what the fuck context.
Speaker 1: In addition to the mixed bag of Trump Crooney's who
Speaker 1: you've probably heard about, Ruby and Shay were also being
Speaker 1: harassed and threatened by a woman named Trevannie Coody. Trevanni
Speaker 1: was formerly a publicist for the R and B singer
Speaker 1: slash convicted sex criminal r Kelly. So yeah, it sure
Speaker 1: seems like she really knows how to pick men to
Speaker 1: associate herself with. Trevanni claims to have had some kind
Speaker 1: of association with rapper Kanye West, who you may recall,
Speaker 1: ran for president himself alongside Trump in twenty twenty before
Speaker 1: becoming a vocal Trump supporter. According to NBC News, a
Speaker 1: biography of Trevanni posted on the website of the Women's
Speaker 1: Global Initiative, a business networking conference, identified her as a
Speaker 1: member of the quote Young Black Leadership Council under President
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, and that same biography noted that in September
Speaker 1: of twenty eighteen, she quote was secured as a publicist
Speaker 1: to Kanye West and now serves as West's director of Operations. Now,
Speaker 1: I should also say that Kanye West's camp says that
Speaker 1: Trevanni was not associated with them. Here's a statement they released.
Speaker 1: Trevanni Cooty was not associated with Kanye West or any
Speaker 1: of his enterprises at the time of the facts that
Speaker 1: are reported in these articles, or since these facts occurred
Speaker 1: in any event. When Trevanni showed up at Shay and
Speaker 1: Ruby's door, the women understandably were pretty freaked out, and
Speaker 1: they called police to be present for the conversation. Trevanni
Speaker 1: told them that she was visiting at the direction of
Speaker 1: a quote high profile individual who warned that if the
Speaker 1: women did not confess to voter fraud allegations, they would
Speaker 1: be arrested after forty eight hours. So if that's not enough,
Speaker 1: this is where it gets really weird. According to Rolling Stone,
Speaker 1: the police bodycam footage of the conversation showed Trevanni telling
Speaker 1: the women, quote, I cannot tell you specifically what will
Speaker 1: take place. I just know that it will disrupt your
Speaker 1: freedom and the freedom of one or more of your
Speaker 1: family members. You are a loose end for a party
Speaker 1: that needs to tidy up. Kutie then put a man
Speaker 1: called Harrison Ford on speakerphone, who said that he could
Speaker 1: offer the women protection. You're probably wondering, is it that
Speaker 1: Harrison Ford from Indiana Jones and Star Wars I was
Speaker 1: thinking the same thing.
Speaker 8: No, it is not.
Speaker 1: But according to the bodycam audio, the man told the women,
Speaker 1: if she confessed to voter fraud, he would offer her
Speaker 1: legal protection, but if she declined, she would go to jail.
Speaker 1: So Ruby and Shay obviously did not believe this woman,
Speaker 1: but later, because of the web of lies that the
Speaker 1: Trump Machine's bread about them, Trump supporters did show up
Speaker 1: to their home. Back to Ruby's testimony, around.
Speaker 7: The week of January sixth, the FBI informed me that
Speaker 7: I needed to leave my home for safety and I.
Speaker 8: Love my home for safety around that time.
Speaker 1: So they had to flee their home for their own safety,
Speaker 1: which is bad enough, but here's where it gets even scarier.
Speaker 1: Trump supporters actually tried to break into Shade's grandmother's home
Speaker 1: to make a quote citizen's arrest.
Speaker 5: I received a call from my grandmother. This woman is
Speaker 5: my everything. I've never even heard her or seen her
Speaker 5: cry ever in my life. And she called me, screaming
Speaker 5: at the top of her lungs, like shame, oh my god, Shane,
Speaker 5: just freaking me out, saying that there are people at
Speaker 5: her home and they, you know, they knocked on the door,
Speaker 5: and of course she opened it and seeing who was there,
Speaker 5: who it was, and they just started pushing their way through,
Speaker 5: claiming that they were coming in to make a citizen's arrest.
Speaker 8: They needed to.
Speaker 5: Find me and my mom. They knew were there, and
Speaker 5: she was just screaming and didn't know what to do,
Speaker 5: and I wasn't there, so, you know, I just felt
Speaker 5: so helpless and so horrible for her.
Speaker 1: I honestly cannot even imagine how terrifying it must have
Speaker 1: been to have an angry, potentially armed mob of Trump
Speaker 1: supporters show up at your elderly grandmother's home and try
Speaker 1: to force their way in all of this because Trump
Speaker 1: and his allies repeatedly lied, these lives were fueled by
Speaker 1: hatred and distrust of black women. Now people are calling
Speaker 1: Ruby and Shay heroes. You know, they serve their community
Speaker 1: during a pandemic, and the president put their lives at
Speaker 1: risk because of it, and even in testifying and speaking
Speaker 1: up about what they experienced, they're sure to be even
Speaker 1: more risk. So what they did is indeed heroic. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Black women shouldn't have to be put
Speaker 1: in such great danger for a country that is weaponized
Speaker 1: against them. Shay says that every single election worker that
Speaker 1: she worked with at the polling center in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: in Georgia has now quit, And honestly, I don't blame
Speaker 1: them who would want to open themselves up to these
Speaker 1: kinds of harassment and attacks for just trying to serve
Speaker 1: the public and do their jobs. Ruby and Shay have
Speaker 1: sued the right wing website The Gateway Pundit and its
Speaker 1: owners for defamation for publishing stories that quote instigated a
Speaker 1: deluge of harassment, intimidation, and threats and force them to
Speaker 1: change their phone numbers, delete their online accounts, and fear
Speaker 1: for their physical safety. And they also settled a suit
Speaker 1: with one American news network. And honestly, I hope they
Speaker 1: get every last dime of these people's money, but no
Speaker 1: amount of money can make right what happened to them.
Speaker 1: I think Lady Ruby really puts it best.
Speaker 7: There is nowhere I feel safe nowhere. Do you know
Speaker 7: how it feels to have the President of the United
Speaker 7: States to target you. The President of the United States
Speaker 7: is supposed to represent every American, not to target one,
Speaker 7: but he targeted me. Lady Ruby a small business owner,
Speaker 7: a mother, a proud American citizen who stand up to
Speaker 7: help Fulton County run an election in the middle of
Speaker 7: the pandemic.
Speaker 1: If you're looking for ways to support the show, check
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Speaker 1: Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or
Speaker 1: just want to say hi, You can reach us at
Speaker 1: Hello at tangodi dot com. You can also find transcripts
Speaker 1: for today's episode at teng goody dot com. There Are
Speaker 1: No Girls on the Internet was created by me Bridget Todd.
Speaker 1: It's a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative edited by
Speaker 1: Joey pat Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tarry Harrison
Speaker 1: is our producer and sound engineer. Michael Almada is our
Speaker 1: contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you want
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