ATLANTA (AP) — After the 2020 election, a Georgia ballot employee who was falsely accused of voter fraud by former President Donald Trump was pressured and threatened with imprisonment throughout a gathering staged with the assistance of a Trump marketing campaign ally, a prosecutor mentioned. in a court docket submitting on Friday.
Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis is investigating whether or not Trump and others unlawfully tried to affect Georgia’s 2020 election. As a part of the investigation, Willis on Friday filed court docket paperwork searching for testimony from Willie Lewis Floyd, director of Black Voices for Trump, a bunch aimed toward constructing assist for the previous president amongst black voters.
In December 2021, Floyd was requested to arrange a gathering to debate an “immunity deal” with Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election employee whom Trump and his allies have been falsely accused of. pulling fraudulent ballots from a suitcase, based on Willis.
Willis mentioned Floyd organized for Trevian Kutti — who Willis described as a Chicago-based “purported publicist” — to fulfill with Freeman. The prosecutor has already requested Kutti’s testimony.
Kutti instructed Freeman that “an armed squad” of federal officers would strategy her and her household inside 48 hours and that Kutti had entry to “high-profile individuals who can get explicit issues executed so to defend you and your loved ones,” based on Willis’ court docket submitting.
The district legal professional cited video footage as proof of those statements.
Kutti didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail searching for touch upon Friday. A message on Floyd’s Instagram account was additionally not instantly returned.
Freeman and Kutti met on the Cobb County Police Division, the place Kutti instructed Freeman that “the freedom and liberty of a number of members of your loved ones” could be disrupted if Freeman refused his assist. Kutti mentioned Freeman was “a unfastened finish for a celebration that wants tidying up,” based on Willis.
The assembly was captured partly by physique digital camera, Willis mentioned.
Kutti additionally mentioned she needed to attach Freeman to Floyd, whom she described as a “very high-level, progressive black disaster supervisor with authoritative powers to provide the safety you want,” mentioned Willis.
In a subsequent cellphone name with Kutti and Floyd, Freeman was compelled to disclose data underneath menace of imprisonment, Willis mentioned.
Freeman and his daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, appeared in June earlier than the Home committee on Jan. 6 and instructed lawmakers how lies about voter fraud had turned their lives the other way up. Moss was additionally a Fulton County ballot employee.
Willis has requested testimony from quite a few witnesses with ties to Trump as a part of his investigation, together with former New York Metropolis Mayor Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. Giuliani, who was instructed he was the goal of the investigation, testified earlier than the particular grand jury final month. A federal choose dominated Thursday that constitutional protections don’t forestall Graham from testifying.
Trump blamed voter fraud for his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. State officers and federal investigators, together with Trump’s personal legal professional normal, mentioned there was no proof of widespread fraud within the 2020 contest.
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Related Press author Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
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