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

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00:00:34.940 I survived nine months in captivity,

00:00:38.460 and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

00:00:43.680 I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are The Survivor Files.

00:00:47.300 Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable,

00:00:51.020 abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

00:00:54.640 These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive.

00:00:58.680 Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:01:06.720 Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to pay Ruby Freeman and Sheamus, the election workers that he and Donald Trump,

00:01:12.900 baselessly maligned as having tampered with votes during the 2020 election in Georgia, almost $50 million.

00:01:19.340 And because he just can't help himself, during the court proceedings, Giuliani would still go outside the courtroom,

00:01:24.640 and continue to lie and say that these two women tampered with votes,

00:01:29.300 even while his attorney was inside the court conceding that there was no proof of any of this.

00:01:33.980 He even went on Newsmax and continued to say that he had video proof

00:01:37.780 that these women were involved in vote tampering.

00:01:40.500 Now, Ruby and Shea's attorneys have already filed another injunction for these ongoing statements,

00:01:45.660 meaning they very well could sue him again and win again if he doesn't knock it off.

00:01:50.680 Honestly, I hope they take him for every cent that he's worth

00:01:53.580 because his behavior really turned their lives upside down and put them in danger.

00:01:58.660 For folks who haven't heard it, their testimony in the January 6th committee was among the most

00:02:02.880 moving that I heard. And we really need to understand how misogyny, racism, and lies

00:02:07.920 all intermingled to put their lives at risk. This doesn't just hurt women like Ruby and 0.99

00:02:13.100 Shea who are targeted. Attacks on election workers and poll counters, the women who make 1.00

00:02:17.700 our democracy work, and it is overwhelmingly women, make us all less safe. So listen to 1.00

00:02:23.220 our breakdown of their testimony from last year's January 6th committee.

00:02:32.740 There Are No Girls on the Internet is a production of iHeartRadio and Unbossed Creative.

00:02:40.860 I'm Bridget Todd, and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet.

00:02:45.860 So here in the United States, we're on day four of hearings around the deadly January 6th

00:02:50.520 insurrection, where Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, believing Trump's repeated lies

00:02:54.780 at the 2022 presidential election had been stolen from him and that he was the actual

00:02:59.160 winner. 0.99

00:02:59.860 I obviously don't feel like I need to tell you that that was complete bullshit. 0.99

00:03:04.100 And it really goes to show the power and danger that can happen when lies and disinformation 0.99

00:03:08.380 are weaponized.

00:03:09.840 People died.

00:03:11.560 Now, in that hearing, we heard the testimony of Ruby and Shea Freeman, and it really broke

00:03:17.120 me.

00:03:18.180 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.

00:03:25.980 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.

00:03:39.780 In an attempt to cast doubt on the election, Trump and his henchmen 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.

00:03:53.220 Now, this was an outright lie based on nothing, and it basically destroyed their lives.

00:03:58.840 Trump and his allies obtained video of the women and baselessly lied about those videos, saying they showed evidence of the women vote tampering.

00:04:07.120 In one video, Trump and Giuliani claimed the women carried suitcases with as many as 18,000 ballots, all for Joe Biden. 0.98

00:04:13.680 Complete bullshit. There aren't even suitcases in the video. 0.98

00:04:16.340 They were just the normal boxes that ballots are kept and moved in.

00:04:19.560 Trump also said that video of the women counting votes at the State Farm Arena showed the fraudulent processing of ballots. 0.99

00:04:25.580 Also bullshit. State officials repeatedly cleared the women and all election workers of any mishandling of votes. 0.96

00:04:31.720 Complete nonsense.

00:04:33.060 But none of this stopped Trump and his croonies from putting these women in real danger by repeatedly lying about it.

00:04:39.820 And we need to be really open about the ways that they specifically used racism and misogyny to fuel this attack. 0.61

00:04:45.920 I don't think these lies would have worked in the same way had Ruby and her daughter not been Black women,

00:04:50.840 who we know are disproportionately harmed by disinformation and online harassment.

00:04:55.520 Just listen to what Giuliani said about the women and tell me it is not a racist line of attack.

00:04:59.820 Tape earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman and Shea Freeman Morris and one other gentleman, quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine.

00:05:13.040 I mean, it's obvious to anyone who's a criminal investigator or prosecutor, they are engaged in surreptitiously illegal activity again that day.

00:05:24.140 And after a week ago, they're still walking around Georgia lying.

00:05:28.080 should have been questioned already.

00:05:34.320 Their places of work, their homes should have been searched

00:05:37.060 for evidence of ballots, for evidence of USB ports,

00:05:41.880 for evidence of voter fraud.

00:05:44.360 So Giuliani accuses the women of passing votes 0.85

00:05:46.820 on a USB drive back and forth,

00:05:48.740 which already, like, what?

00:05:51.560 But in reality...

00:05:53.040 What was your mom actually handing you on that video?

00:05:56.900 A ginger mint. 1.00

00:05:58.080 Trump also accused the women of vote tampering, baselessly attacking them by first and last name. 0.99

00:06:04.840 We had at least 18,000 that's on tape.

00:06:11.420 We had them counted very painstakingly.

00:06:14.860 18,000 voters having to do with Ruby Friedman. 0.73

00:06:19.400 She's a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler.

00:06:25.100 Okay, so here's what I think people are not saying clear enough. 0.97

00:06:28.780 I think that Trump and Giuliani just saw a video of two Black women in Georgia

00:06:32.660 and knew that they could say that those Black women were the culprits, 1.00

00:06:36.160 that those Black women were liars, 1.00

00:06:37.900 and those Black women were the reason that Trump lost the election. 1.00

00:06:40.840 The same way that Trump has repeatedly attacked Black women, 0.97

00:06:43.900 like White House correspondent April Ryan,

00:06:46.380 I think that he knew that his base would be poised and ready to believe it 0.99

00:06:50.080 because they have a visceral hate and distrust and disdain for Black women. 0.97

00:06:53.900 and that they would be ready to believe that the visual of Black women working at a Georgia 0.99

00:06:58.380 polling place would be proof to convince them that something shady was going on. 0.89

00:07:03.800 They basically just said to their racist supporters,

00:07:06.020 hey, look at this video. 0.74

00:07:07.320 It shows that Black women were involved in the vote counting process in Georgia, 0.96

00:07:10.900 and that should be evidence enough that the election was rigged. 0.77

00:07:13.660 His attacks really weaponized their identities against them 0.99

00:07:16.860 and relied on tropes about Black women being untrustworthy,

00:07:19.920 which we see time and time again with disinformation and online harassment. 1.00

00:07:23.900 This led to a flood of racist death threats and harassment against Ruby and Shea,

00:07:27.900 at first mostly centralized around Facebook Messenger.

00:07:31.180 Here's Shea's testimony.

00:07:32.960 So I'm just asking him, like, where are the messages?

00:07:36.100 All I see is the feeds.

00:07:37.180 Like, how do you get to the messages?

00:07:38.440 And he said, it's another icon on your phone that says Messenger.

00:07:43.420 And I went to that icon, and it was just a lot of horrible things there.

00:07:50.120 And those horrible things, did they include threats?

00:07:52.420 Yes, a lot of threats, wishing death upon me, telling me that, you know, I'll be in jail with my mother and saying things like, be glad it's 2020 and not 1920. 0.92

00:08:12.460 So obviously saying you'll be glad it's 2020 and not 1920 is a reference to her being lynched and killed, which is just disgusting.

00:08:20.760 And Shay's testimony about how she felt is really heartbreaking.

00:08:24.680 I felt horrible.

00:08:26.820 I felt like it was all my fault.

00:08:28.940 Like, if I would have never decided to be an elections worker,

00:08:34.660 like, I could have done anything else.

00:08:37.620 But that's what I decided to do.

00:08:39.680 And now people are lying and spreading rumors and lies and attacking my mom.

00:08:46.820 I'm her only child.

00:08:47.880 going to my grandmother's house

00:08:49.920 I'm her only grandchild

00:08:51.460 and

00:08:52.620 and my kid

00:08:55.640 it's just

00:08:56.780 I felt

00:08:58.760 so bad

00:09:00.660 I just felt bad for my mom

00:09:02.900 and I felt horrible

00:09:05.100 for picking this job and being the one

00:09:07.320 that always wants to help

00:09:09.180 and always there

00:09:10.560 never missing not one election

00:09:13.520 I just felt like it was

00:09:14.880 my fault

00:09:15.920 of putting my family in this situation.

00:09:19.660 Shay's mom, Ruby, describes how she was always so proud of her nickname, Lady Ruby,

00:09:24.200 and how as a business owner and community staple in Georgia,

00:09:27.200 everybody knew her as Lady Ruby. 1.00

00:09:28.920 She even had a staple shirt with Lady Ruby bedazzled on it that she wore all the time.

00:09:33.280 But because of Trump and his camp's lies,

00:09:35.940 she no longer even uses her name because it doesn't feel safe.

00:09:39.220 She says she hasn't worn that shirt since 2020.

00:09:41.280 Now I won't even introduce myself by my name anymore. I get nervous when I bump into someone

00:09:50.220 I know in the grocery store who says my name. I'm worried about who's listening.

00:09:58.060 I get nervous when I have to give my name for food orders. I'm always concerned of who's around

00:10:04.420 me. I've lost my name and I've lost my reputation. I've lost my sense of security. All because

00:10:14.460 a group of people starting with number 45 and his ally, Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat

00:10:24.180 me and my daughter, Shea, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was

00:10:31.560 stolen. Shay and Ruby, once pillars of their community, have basically been resigned to a

00:10:37.680 life of hiding for their own safety. Ms. Moss, how has this experience of being targeted by the

00:10:42.820 former president and his allies affected your life? He's turned my life upside down.

00:10:51.260 I no longer give out my business card.

00:10:58.520 I don't transfer calls.

00:11:01.480 I don't want anyone knowing my name.

00:11:05.820 I don't want to go anywhere with my mom 0.99

00:11:07.580 because she might yell my name out over the grocery aisle or something.

00:11:11.580 I don't go to the grocery store at all.

00:11:14.040 I haven't been anywhere at all.

00:11:21.260 Let's take a quick break.

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00:12:11.320 Call 844-844-iHeart to get started. That's 844-844-iHeart. When I was 14 years old,

00:12:19.180 I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months.

00:12:22.860 I survived, and I've spent my life exploring

00:12:25.460 how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

00:12:29.220 I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files.

00:12:32.920 I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear 0.96

00:12:37.560 saying, shut up, don't say anything.

00:12:41.120 Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. 0.97

00:12:45.200 I knew if he woke up, without a doubt,

00:12:48.580 he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed

00:12:54.660 and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But

00:13:01.680 these aren't stories about what's taken from them. They're stories about what it takes to

00:13:06.940 make it out alive. Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeartRadio app,

00:13:13.240 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

00:13:18.580 And we're back.

00:13:27.240 Now, this detail didn't come up in the hearing at all, but I wanted to talk about it because I think it adds some important, if not totally what-the-fuck context. 0.94

00:13:35.660 In addition to the mixed bag of Trump croonies who you've probably heard about, Ruby and Shea were also being harassed and threatened by a woman named Trevani Cootie. 0.91

00:13:44.800 Trevani was formerly a publicist for the R&B singer-slash-convicted-sex criminal R. Kelly.

00:13:50.300 So, yeah, it sure seems like she really knows how to pick men to associate herself with.

00:13:54.740 Trevani claims to have had some kind of association with rapper Kanye West,

00:13:58.920 who you may recall ran for president himself alongside Trump in 2020 before becoming a vocal Trump supporter.

00:14:04.820 According to NBC News, a biography of Trevani posted on the website of the Women's Global Initiative, 0.95

00:14:09.880 a business networking conference, identified her as a member of the, quote,

00:14:14.100 Young Black Leadership Council under President Donald Trump.

00:14:17.420 And that same biography noted that in September of 2018, she, quote,

00:14:22.120 was secured as a publicist to Kanye West and now serves as West's director of operations.

00:14:28.160 Now, I should also say that Kanye West's camp says that Trevani was not associated with him.

00:14:32.680 Here's a statement they released.

00:14:34.140 Trevani Kuti was not associated with Kanye West or any of his enterprises

00:14:37.960 at the time of the facts that are reported in these articles or since these facts occurred.

00:14:43.540 In any event, when Trevani showed up at Shea and Ruby's door,

00:14:46.940 the women understandably were pretty freaked out,

00:14:49.300 and they called police to be present for the conversation.

00:14:52.220 Trevani told them that she was visiting at the direction of a, quote,

00:14:55.200 high-profile individual who warned that if the women did not confess to voter fraud allegations,

00:15:00.940 they would be arrested after 48 hours.

00:15:03.700 So if that's not enough, this is where it gets really weird.

00:15:06.700 according to Rolling Stone,

00:15:08.100 the police body cam footage of the conversation

00:15:10.480 showed Trevani telling the women,

00:15:12.520 quote,

00:15:12.900 I cannot tell you specifically what will take place.

00:15:15.280 I just know that it will disrupt your freedom

00:15:17.040 and the freedom of one or more of your family members.

00:15:20.400 You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up.

00:15:24.660 Kuti then put a man called Harrison Ford on speakerphone 1.00

00:15:28.480 who said that he could offer the women protection.

00:15:31.340 You're probably wondering,

00:15:32.220 is it that Harrison Ford from Indiana Jones and Star Wars?

00:15:35.780 I was thinking the same thing.

00:15:37.000 No, it is not.

00:15:38.100 But according to the body cam audio,

00:15:40.260 the man told the women,

00:15:41.960 if she confessed to voter fraud,

00:15:43.600 he would offer her legal protection.

00:15:45.360 But if she declined, she would go to jail.

00:15:48.240 So Ruby and Shay obviously did not believe this woman.

00:15:51.220 But later, because of the web of lies

00:15:54.340 that the Trump machine spread about them,

00:15:57.160 Trump supporters did show up to their home.

00:16:00.000 Back to Ruby's testimony.

00:16:01.900 Around the week of January 6th,

00:16:06.180 The FBI informed me that I needed to leave my home for safety.

00:16:15.540 And I left my home for safety around that time.

00:16:19.260 So they had to flee their home for their own safety, which is bad enough.

00:16:23.300 But here's where it gets even scarier.

00:16:25.620 Trump supporters actually tried to break in to Shea's grandmother's home to make a, quote, citizen's arrest.

00:16:31.760 I received a call from my grandmother.

00:16:36.820 This woman is my everything.

00:16:39.720 I've never even heard her or seen her cry ever in my life. 0.98

00:16:44.920 And she called me, screaming at the top of her lungs, like,

00:16:51.180 Shay, Shay, oh my God, Shay, just freaking me out,

00:16:55.940 saying that there were people at her home and they, you know, they knocked on the door

00:17:04.120 and of course she opened it and seeing who was there, who it was, and they just started

00:17:09.800 pushing their way through, claiming that they were coming in to make a citizen's arrest.

00:17:16.260 They needed to find me and my mom. They knew we were there.

00:17:19.820 and she was just screaming and didn't know what to do.

00:17:28.940 And I wasn't there.

00:17:31.460 So, you know, I just felt so helpless and so horrible for her.

00:17:36.580 I honestly cannot even imagine how terrifying it must have been

00:17:40.500 to have an angry, potentially armed mob of Trump supporters

00:17:43.680 show up at your elderly grandmother's home and try to force their way in.

00:17:47.940 All of this because Trump and his allies repeatedly lied. 0.98

00:17:51.900 And his lies were fueled by hatred and distrust of Black women.

00:17:55.460 Now, people are calling Ruby and Shay heroes.

00:17:58.060 You know, they served their community during a pandemic, and the president put their lives at risk because of it.

00:18:03.280 And even in testifying and speaking up about what they experienced, they're sure to be at even more risk.

00:18:09.320 So what they did is indeed heroic.

00:18:12.040 But here's the thing.

00:18:12.960 Black women shouldn't have to be put in such great danger for a country that is weaponized 0.97

00:18:18.280 against them. Shea says that every single election worker that she worked with at the

00:18:23.100 polling center in 2020 in Georgia has now quit. And honestly, I don't blame them. Who would want

00:18:28.620 to open themselves up to these kinds of harassment and attacks for just trying to serve the public

00:18:32.960 and do their jobs? Ruby and Shea have sued the right-wing website, The Gateway Pundit,

00:18:38.160 and its owners for defamation

00:18:39.860 for publishing stories that, quote,

00:18:42.280 instigated a deluge of harassment,

00:18:44.380 intimidation, and threats,

00:18:45.720 and forced them to change their phone numbers,

00:18:47.260 delete their online accounts,

00:18:48.520 and fear for their physical safety.

00:18:50.260 And they also settled a suit

00:18:52.060 with One America News Network.

00:18:54.040 And honestly, I hope they get

00:18:55.640 every last dime of these people's money.

00:18:58.580 But no amount of money can make right

00:19:00.580 what happened to them.

00:19:02.400 I think Lady Ruby really puts it best.

00:19:04.800 There is nowhere I feel safe.

00:19:07.720 Nowhere.

00:19:10.240 Do you know how it feels to have the President of the United States to target you?

00:19:18.760 The President of the United States is supposed to represent every American.

00:19:25.520 Not to target one.

00:19:27.440 But he targeted me, Lady Rudy, a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who stand up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of the pandemic.

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00:21:13.360 captivity and i've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed

00:21:18.740 them i'm elizabeth smart and these are the survivor files every week i'm with survivors

00:21:25.020 who lived through the unthinkable,

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00:21:30.820 These are stories about what it takes

00:21:32.740 to make it out alive.

00:21:34.640 Listen to The Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart

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There Are No Girls on the Internet - December 26, 2023

Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss are American heroes — BEST OF TANGOTI

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