06/22/22 06/22/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> did you hear saying, the plate have alternate lectures meet -- not legally found? >> yes, sir. amy: at the fourth public hearing of the house select committee to investigate the

january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol, state and local officials described threats and harassment they face from president trump and his campaign to overturn the 2020 election. among them, a black election worker and her mother in georgia whose lives were forever changed when trump and rudy giuliani claimed the women helped rigged the vote when trump lost in their state. >> there is nowhere i feel safe. nowhere. do you know how it feels to have the president of the united states target you? the president of the united states supposed to represent every american, not to target one. but he targeted me. amy: we will bring either testimony as well as other highlights from the hearing, including republicans like arizona house speaker rusty

bowers who voted for trump and said he would vote for him again but said he and his family faced violent threats after bowers refused trump's request to overturn his election loss in his state. >> one john madden had -- one gentleman had three bars on his chest and had a pistol and was threatening my neighbor, not with the pistol, but just vocally. when i saw the gun, i knew i had to get close stub amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. i afghanistan, official say at least 1000 people have died, while some 1500 have been injured after a powerful earthquake early wednesday. the epicenter of the quake was about 30 miles from the city of khost near the pakistan border.

aftershocks were felt as far away as kabul. survivors described seeing numerous homes destroyed. >> it was about midnight when the quake struck. it destroyed the houses of our neighbors. when we arrived, there were many dead and wounded. they sent us to the hospital. i also saw many dead bodies. amy: it comes at a time when afghanistan is already facing one of the world's worst humanitarian and economic crises. a recent report by the red cross found 70% of afghan households are not able to meet basic food needs and an estimated 3 million afghan children are at risk of malnutrition. the house select committee investigating the january 6 insurrection has accused donald trump of playing a "direct and personal role" in pressuring state and local officials to help overturn joe biden's 2020 election victory. this is the committee's chair bennie thompson. >> what happened to mike pence

wasn't an isolated part of donald trump's scheme to overturn the election. in fact, pressuring public servants into betraying their oath was a fundamental part of the playbook. amy: part of trump's plot involved states sending fake slates of electors to be counted on january 6. the committee revealed wisconsin republican senator ron johnson took part in the plot. on january 6, an aide to johnson texted an aide to mike pence saying johnson wanted to hand pence "alternate slates of electors" from wisconsin and michigan. pence's aided sponded by writing, "do not givthat to him." we will air highlights from tuesday's hearing after headlines. ukrainian officials say russian forces have captured several settlements near lysychansk and severodonetsk as russia moves closer to seizing all of the luhansk region.

meanwhile, at least 15 civilians have reportedly died in the kharkiv region since tuesday as russia intensifies its shelling of the area. in other news on the war, u.s. attorney general merrick garland made an unannounced trip to ukraine tuesday. he announced the formation of a war crimes accountability team. >> the united states the sending an unmistakable message. there is no place to hide, we and our partners will pursue every avenue available to make sure those who are responsible for these atrocities are held accountable. amy: the wife of basketball superstar brittney griner says she has "zero trust" in the u.s. government after it botched a plan to have the couple speak on saturday for the first time since brittney griner was detained in russia performance ago. brittney griner tried calling 11 times on saturday but could not reach her wife on what was their fourth anniversary. the plan was for the call to go through the u.s. embassy in

moscow, but no one was working on saturday to connect the call. brittney's wife cherelle griner told the associated press -- "i find it unacceptable and i have zero trust in our government right now. if i can't trust you to catch a saturday call outside of business hours, how can i trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife's behalf to come home?" the u.s. senate has voted 64 to 34 to advance a new bipartisan gun safety bill based on an agreement reached by 10 democrats and 10 republicans. the bill includes enhanced background checks for gun buyers under the age of 21 and it closes the so-called boyfriend loophole. the senate bill, however, does not include a number of gun control initiatives that were included in a recent bill approved by house democrats which aimed to ban the sale of large-capacity magazines and raise the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21.

"an abject failure." that's how the head of the texas state police has described the response of local authorities to last month's mass shooting at robb elementary school in uvalde when an 18-year-old gunman shot dead 19 fourth graders and two teachers colonel steve mccraw, director of the texas department of public safety, made the comment tuesday. >> there is compelling evidence that the law enforcement response to the attack at robb elementary was an abject failure and antithetical to everything we have learned in the last two decades since the columbine massacre. three minutes after the subject entered the building, there was sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armor to isolate, distract, neutralize the subject. the only thing stopping the hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112

was the on scene commander, who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children. amy: police had said they needed time to get a key to open the classroom's locked door, but mccraw said the door was not locked and that no officer even checked to see if it was. mccraw also revealed one uvalde police officer who was inside the school was detained while trying to save his wife, one of the two teachers shot dead. ruben ruiz was detained and had his gun taken away after he moved to approach the classroom where his fe was shot. she had found him. -- she had phoned him. primaries were hold in alabama, virginia, georgia and washington, d.c., on tuesday. in alabama, katt britt defeated congressmember mo brooks in the republican senate primary to replace the retiring senator

richard shelby. donald trump had initially endorsed brooks who had helped organize the stop the steal rally where trump spoke just prior to the january 6 insurrection. but trump later withdrew his endorsement and backed britt after brooks told a crowd to put the 2020 election behind them. in election news from texas, a recount has confirmed henry cuellar, one of the most conservative democrats in congress, has defeated progressive challenger jessica cisneros in last month's house primary. he won by just under 300 votes. cuellar is a corporate-backed, anti-choice, pro-gun democrat who received backing from house speaker nancy pelosi and others in the democrat establishment. in january, the fbi raided his home as part of a corruption investigation. cuellar's campaign also got a major boost from aipac, the american israel public affairs committee. the group's super pac spent over $1.8 million to get cuellar reelected. the u.s. supreme court has issued a significant ruling on the separation of church and

state. the court's six conservative justices ruled private religious schools in the state of maine cannot be excluded from a program where the state pays tuition for some students attending private schools. justice sonia sotomayor disagreed with the ruling, writing -- "today the court leads us to a place where separation of church and state becomes a constitutional violation." the democratic republic of congo is preparing to soon hold three days of national mourning for slain independence leader patrice lumumba who was assassinated in 1961. on monday, belgium, the former colonial power, handed over a tooth that a belgium police officer said he took as a trophy after he helped cut up lumumba's body and then dissolved it in acid. the tooth is believed to be the only remains left of lumumba, who was killed a year after he became the first elected prime minister of the congo in 1960.

the cia had ordered his assassination but could not complete the job. instead, the united states and belgium funneled cash and a to rubble politicians who seized power and killed him. a coffin holding the tooth is expected to fly from brussels to kinshasa today. lumumba's son roland spoke on tuesday. >> in order for a soul to rest in peace, and needs to be buried, even if it is just part of the persons fingernail or ear so the morning can be completed and this can be done with restitution. amy: in ecuador, thousands of indigenous and social leaders took to the streets of the capital quito and around the country for a ninth straight day on tuesday, protesting right-wing president guillermo lasso's economic policies and rising fuel prices. reuters reports police fired tear gas and non-lethal projectiles at protesters. at least two people have died, nearly 100 injured, and dozens arrested.

president lasso has extended a state of emergency to at least six ecuadorian provinces. meanwhile, indigenous leaders said tuesday they will not meet with government officials until security forces are withdrawn from certain areas of quito. lawmakers in el salvador have voted to extend a state of emergency for another 30 days. the decree was first imposed in late march in response to rising homicides attributed to gangs. since then, salvadoran authorities have arrested more than 40,000 people. according to amnesty international, at least 40 people have also died in state custody during that time. in brazil, a third suspect in the murders of british journalist dom phillips and indigenous expert bruno araújo pereira was arrested over the weekend. the suspect pointed police to the location of the speedboat in which phillips and pereira were traveling before they were murdered in early june. the bodies of the two were found buried last week near the banks of a river in the javari valley, a remote area of the brazilian amazon where they were shot

dead. meanwhile, brazil's vice president said phillips was "collateral damage" in an attack targeting pereira. and a jury in california has found comedian bill cosby liable for sexually assaulting a woman at the playboy mansion in 1975 when she was just a teenager. the jury ordered cosby to pay $500,000. the woman, judy huth, says the incident occurred when she was just 16 years old. she was represented by the attorney gloria allred. >> today our client judy huth won real change because she thought so cosby -- fought bill cosby one step at a time for over 7.5 years. she proved with the jury's verdict that mr. cosby did sexually assault her when she was a minor and that he should be held and was held accountable for what he did to her.

amy: bill cosby did not attend the trial and denied the charges. 11 months ago, he was released from prison in pennsylvania after the state's high court threw out a sexual assault conviction in a different case. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house select committee investigating the january 6 insurrection has accused donald trump of playing a "direct and personal role" in pressuring state and local officials to help overturn joe biden's 2020 election victory. this is the committee's chair bennie thompson. >> what happened to mike pence was not an isolated part of donald trump's scheme to overturn the election. in fact, it was a fundamental part of the playbook. amy: the house select committee to investigate the january 6 attack on the united states capitol held its fourth televised public hearing tuesday with testimony from a series of

republican state officials who testified about the pressure they face from then-president donald trump and rudy giuliani and their campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as well as a black election worker in georgia and her mother whose lives were forever changed in when trump's december 2020 top campaign lawyer rudy giuliani claimed the women rigged the election . today we bring you highlights of testimony. we begin with arizona house speaker rusty bowers, a lifelong republican who supported arizona's voter suppression laws, voted for trump, and even said he would vote for him again. bowers testified about how he denied trump's request to overturn his loss in arizona by 10,457 votes by potentially removing joe biden's electors in the state. bowers was questioned by january

6 committee member congressmember adam schiff, democrat of california. >> he received a phone call from president trump and rudy giuliani in which they discussed the result of the presidential election in arizona. if you would, tell us about that call and whether the former president or mr. giuliani raised allegations of election fraud. >> thank you. my wife and i had returned from attending our church meetings. it was on a sunday. and we were still in the driveway. and i had received a call from a colleague telling me that the white house was trying to get in touch with her and i. and that she said please if you get a call, let's try to take this together. immediately i saw that the white house on my bluetooth was calling and i took the call and was asked by the -- i would presume the operator at the

white house -- if i would hold for the president, which i did. and he -- mr. giuliani came on first, and niceties. then mr. trump -- president trump, then president trump came on and we initiated a conversation. >> and during that conversation, did you ask mr. giuliani for proof of these allegations of fraud that he was making? >> on multiple occasions, yes. >> and when you asked him for evidence of this fraud, what did he say? >> he said that they did have proof. and i asked him, do you have names? for example, we have 200,000 illegal immigrants, some large number. 5000 or 6000 dead people, etc. and i said, do you have their names? yes? will you give them to me? yes. the president interrupted d said give the man what he needs, rudy. and he said, i will.

and that happened on at least two occasions, that interchange in the conversation. >> so mr. giuliani was claiming in the call that there were hundreds of thousands of undocumented people and thousands of dead people who had purportedly voted in the election? >> yes. >> and you asked him for evidence of that. >> i did. >> and did he ever receive -- did you ever receive from him that evidence either during the call, after the call, or to this day? >> never. >> what was the ask during this call? he was making these allegations of fraud, but he had something or a couple of things that they wanted you to do. what were those? >> the ones i remember were first, that we would hold -- that i would allow an official committee at the capitol so that they could hear this evidence and that we could take action thereafter. and i refused. i said come up to that time the

circus -- i called it a circus -- had been brewing with lots of demonstrations both at the counting center, at the capitol, and other places. and i didn't want to have that in the house. i did not feel that the evidence granted in its absence merited a hearing. and i didn't want to be used as a pawn. if there was some other need that the committee hearing would fulfill. so that was the first ask, that we hold an official committee hearing. >> and what was his second ask? >> i -- i said to what end? to what end the hearing? he said, well, we have heard by an official high up in the republican legislature that there is a legal theory or a legal ability in arizona that you can remove the electors of

president biden and replace them. and we would like to have the legitimate opportunity through the committee come to that end and remove that. and i said that's -- that's something i've -- that's totally new to me. i've never heard of any such thing. and he pressed that point. and i said, look, you are asking me to do something that is counter to my oath when i swore to the constitution to uphold it, and i also swore to the constitution and the laws of the state of arizona. and this is totally foreign as an idea or a theory to me, and i would never do anything of such magnitude without deep consultation with qualified attorneys. and i said i've g some good attorneys and i'm going to give you their names, but you are asking me to do something

against my oath and i will not break my oath. and i think that was up to that point. >> during the conversation -- and you heard, i think, when we played a snippet of mr. giuliani calling other state legislators and saying that he was calling as essentially a fellow republican. did he make a similar appeal to you or bring up the fact that you shared a similar party? >> whether it was in that call or in a later meeting, he did bring that up more than once. >> how would he bring that up? >> he would say, aren't we all republicans here? i would think we would get a better reception. i mean, i would think you would listen a little more open to my suggestions, that we're all republicans. >> and this evidence that you asked him for that would justify this extraordinary step, i think you said they never produced. why did you feel, either in the absence of that evidence or with it, what they were asking you to do would violate your oath to the constitution?

>> first of all, when the people -- and in arizona, believe some 40 plus years earlier -- the legislature had established the manner of electing our officials or the electors for the presidential race. once it was given to the people as in bush v gore, illustrated by the supreme court, it becomes a fundamental right of the people. so as far as i was concerned, for someone to ask me in the -- i would call it a paucity. there was no evidence being presented of any strength. evidence can be hearsay evidence. it is still evidence but it's still hearsay. but strong judicial, quality evidence, anything that would say to me you have a doubt, deny your oath, i will not do that.

and on more than -- on more than one occasion throughout all this, that has been brought up. and it is a tenet of my faith that the constitution is divinely inspired, of my most basic foundational beliefs. and so for me to do that because somebody just asked me to is foreign toy very being. i will not do it. amy: republican arizona house speaker rusty bowers, longtime trump supporter, testifying to tuesday the house january 6 committee. he was questioned by democratic congas member adam schiff, who also asked bowers about threats he and his family faced after he refused trump's request to

overturn the 2020 election. >> i understand as you flew from phoenix yesterday, you reflected on passages from a personal journal you were keeping in december 2020 while all of this was taking place. with your permission, i'm wondering if you would be willing to share one passage in particular with us. >> thank you very much. it is painful to have friends who have been such a help to me turn on me with such rancor. i may in the eyes of men not hold correct opinions or act according to their vision or convictions, but i do not take this current situation in a light manner, a fearful manner, or a vengeful manner. i do not want to be a winner by cheating. i will not play with laws i

swore allegiance to. with any contrived desire towards deflection of my deep foundational desire to follow god's will as i believe he led my conscience to embrace. how else will i ever approach him in the wilderness of life? knowing that i ask this guidance only to show myself a coward in defending the course he let me take -- he led me to take. >> thank you, mr. speaker. those are powerful words. i understand that taking the courageous positions that you did following the 2020 election in defense of the rule of law and protecting the voters of arizona relted in you and your

family being subjected to protests and terrible threats. can you tell us how this impacted you and your family? >> well, as others in the videos have mentioned, we received, my secretaries would say, in excess of 20,000 emails and tens of thousands of voicemails and s -- and texts which saturated our offices. and we were unable to work, at least communicate. that at home, up till even recently, it is the new pattern or a pattern in our lives to worry what will happen on saturdays because we have various groups come by and they have had video panel trucks with videos of me proclaiming me to

be a pedophile and a pervert and a corrupt politician and blaring loudspeakers in my neighborhood and leaving literature both on my property, and -- but arguing and threatening with neighbors and with myself. and i don't know if i should name groups, but there was a -- one gentleman that had the three bars on his chest. and he had a pistol and was threatening my neighbor. not with the pistol, but just vocally. when i saw the gun, i knew i had to get close. and at the same time, on some of these -- we had a daughter who

is gravely ill who is upset by what was happening outside. and my wife, that is a valiant person, very strong, quiet, very strong woman. so it was disturbing. it was disturbing. amy: republican arizona house speaker rusty bowers, longtime trump supporter. his daughter casey bowers died january 20 8, 20 20, a few weeks after the january 6 insurrection. we come back, we will hear more testimony from the public hearing, including the black election worker and her mother in georgia whose lives were forever changed president trump claimed the women helped rig the vote when he lost georgia. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "mother i sober" by kendrick lamar. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. during tuesday's hearing of the house select committee to investigate the january 6 attack on the united states capitol, members laid out the argument that then-president trump and his campaign "were directly involved in advancing and

coordinating the plot to replace biden electors with fake electors not chosen the voters." this is a video presented as evidence that features casey lucier, an investigative counsel for the committee, outlining details of the plan to organize fake electors for ump in states that he had lost. it includes comments from the testimony former trump staffers involved in aware of the plot and lawyers and republican officials who warned against it. >> my name is casey lucier. i'm an investigative counsel for the house select committee to investigate the january 6 attack on the united states capitol. on november 18, a lawyer working with the trump campaign, named kenneth chesebro, wrote a memo arguing that the trump campaign should organize its own electors in the swing states that president trump had lost. the select committee received testimony that those close to president trump began planning to organize fake electors for trump in states that biden won in the weeks after the election. >> who do you remember being involved in those early discussions around the

thanksgiving time regarding having alternate electors meet? >> mr. giuliani, several of mr. giuliani's associates, mr. meadows, members of congress. although it's difficult to distinguish if the members i'm thinking of were involved during thangiving or they're involved as we progressed through december. >> at the president's direct request, the rnc assisted the caaign in coordinating this effort. >> what did the president say when he called you? >> essentially, he turned the call over to mr. eastman who then proceeded to talk about the importance othe rnc helping the campaign gather these continge electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of states. i think more just helping them reach out and assemble them.

but that -- my understandings the campaign did take the lead and we just were helping them in that role. >> as president trump and his supporters continued to lose lawsuits, some campaign lawyers became convinced that convening electors in states that trump lost was no longer appropriate. >> i just remember i either replied or called somebody saying, unless we have litigation pending this, le, in these states, like, i don't think this is appropriator, you know, this isn't the right thing to do. i don't rember how i phrased it, but i got into a little bit of a back and forth and i think it was with ken chesebro, wher i said, all rht, you know, you justet after it, like, i'm out. >> at that point, i had josh finley email mr. chesebro politely to say this is your task. you are responsible for the

electoral college issues moving forward. and this was my way of taking that responsibility to zero. >> the committee learned the white house counsel's office also felt the plan was potentially illegal. >> and so to be clear, did you hear the white house counsel's office say that this plan to have alternate electors meet and cast votes for donald trump in states that he had lost was not legally sound? >> yes, sir >> and who was present for that meeting that you remember? >> it was in our offices. mr. meadows, mr. giuliani, and a few of mr. giuliani's associates. >> the select committee interviewed several of the individual fake electors as well as trump campaign staff who helped organe the effort. >> we were just, younow, kind of -- kind of useful idiots or rubes at that point. you know, a strong part of me really feels that it's just kind of as the road continued and as that was failure, failure, failure that tt got foulated as what we have on the table.

let's just do it. >> and now after what we've told you today abouthe committee's investigation, about the conclusion of the professional lawyers on the campaign staff, justin clark, matt morgan, and josh finley, about their unwillingness to participate in the convening of these electors, how does that contribute to your understanding of these issues? >> i'm angry. i'm angry because i think -- i think in a sense, you know, no one reallyared if people were potentially putting themselves in jeopardy. >> would you have not wanted to participate in this any further as well? >> i absoltely would not have had i known that the three main lawyers for the campaign that i'd spoken to in the past and were leading up were not on board. yeah.

coax i was told that these wld only cnt if a court ruled in our favor. so that would have been using our electors -- well, it would have been using our electors in ways that we wer't ld about d we wouldn't have supported. >> documents obtained by the select committee indicate that instructions were given to the electors in several states that they needed to cast their ballots in complete secrecy. because this scheme involved fake electors, those participating in certain states had no way to comply with state election laws like where the electors were supposed to meet. one group of fe electors even considered hiding overnight to ensure that they could access the state capital as required in michigan. >> did mr. norton say who he was working with at all on ts effort to have electors meet? >> he said hwas working with the president's campaign. he told me that the michigan republican electors were

planning to meet ithe capito and hide overnight so that they could fulfill the role of casting their vote in -- per law in the michigan chambers. and i told him in no uncertain terms that that was insane and inappropriate. >> in one state, the fake electors even asked for a promise that the campaign would pay their legal fees if they got sued or charged with a crime. ultimately, fake electors did meet on december 14, 2020 in arizona, georgia, michigan, pennsylvania, new mexico, nevada, and wisconsin. at the request of the trump campaign, the electors from these battleground states signed documents falsely asserting that they were the "duly elected electors" from their state and submitted them to the national archives and to vice president pence in his capacity as president of the senate. here is what some of the fake

electors' certificates look like as compared to the real ones. but these ballots had no legal effect. in an email produced to the select committee, dr. eastman told a trump campaign representative that it did not matter that the electors had not been approved by a state authority. quote, "the fact that we have multiple slates of electors demonstrates the uncertainty of either. that should be enough." he urged that pence act boldly and be challenged. documents produced to the select committee show that the trump campaign took steps to ensure that the physical copies of the fake electors' electoral votes from two states were delivered to washington for january 6. text messages exchanged between republican party officials in wisconsin showed that on january 4, the trump campaign asked for someone to fly their fake electors' documents to washington. a staffer for wisconsin nator ron johnson texted a staffer for vice president pence just minutes before the beginning of the joint session. this staffer stated that senator johnson wished to hand-deliver

to the vice president the fake electors' votes from michigan and wisconsin. the vice president's aide unambiguously instructed them not to deliver the fake votes to the vice president. even though the fake electors' slates were transmitted to congress and the executive branch, the vice president held firm in his position that his ro was to count lawfully submitted electoral votes. vice pres. pence: joseph r biden, jr. of the state of delaware has received 306 votes. donald j trump of the state of florida has received 232 votes. >> which is what he did when the joint session resumed on january 6 after the attack on the capitol. amy: that is video narrated by casey lucier and avesta get of counsel for the january 6 committee presented evidence during tuesday's hearing. one of the witnesses testified live was the republican georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger. the january 6 committee member congressman adam schiff refers

to a call between trump and georgia investigator frances watson and his questioning of raffensperger. >> i know you were not on this call but you have listened to it. president trump did not win by hundreds of thousands of votes in georgia, did he? >> know, he did not. i have been traveling through the state of georgia for a year now and simply put in a nutshell, what happened in the fall of 2020 is 28,000 georgians skipped the presidential race and yet they voted down ballot and other races. and republican congressman ended up getting 33,000 more votes than president trump. that is why president trump came up short. coax thank you, mr. secretary. let's listen to another part of the conversation between president trump and ms. watson. pres. trump: whatever you can do, frances, it is a great come it is an important thing

for the country. i very much appreciate it. >> whatever you can do, frances. this is the president calling and investigator thing into the election which he is a candidate and asking her to do whatever you can do. mr. secretary, he placed this call september 23 2020. the subcommittee has received messages indicating that mark meadows wanted to send some of the investigators in her office in the words of one white house aide a -- load of potus stuff, including coins, actual autographed maga hats, etc. white house staff intervened to make sure that didn't happen. it was clear at the time of this call that the former president had his sights set on january 6. listen to this portion when he told frances watson about a very important date. pres. trump: do you think you'll be working after christmas to keep it going fast? because, you know, we have that

date of the 6, which is a very important date. >> that important date, of course, was the joint session of congress where georgia's electoral votes would be counted for joe biden. a little over a week after this call to frances watson, the president was finally able to speak with you, secretary raffensperger. bear in mind as we discussed this call today that by this point in time, early january, the election in georgia had already been certified. but perhaps more important, the president of the united states had already been told repeatedly by his own top justice department officials that the claims he was about to make to you about massive fraud in georgia were completely fafalse. amy: that is congressmember adam schiff questioning republican georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger. when we come back, we will hear testimony to the january 6 committee from a black election worker and her mother in georgia whose lives were forever changed

when trump claimed the women helped rick the vote when he lost georgia. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "running up that hill" by kate bush. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. some of the most dramatic testimony of tuesday's hearing of the house select committee to investigate the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol came from shaye moss, a former georgia state election worker who described threats against her mother and grandmother. during pricing by cal forney commerce member adam schiff.

she was joined by her mother. >> how did you first become aware that rudy giuliani, the president's lawyer, was accusing you and your mother of a crime? >> i was at work, like always, and the former chief mr. jones asked me to come to his office. and when i went to his office, the former director was in there and they showed me a video on their computer. it was just like a very short clip of us working at state farm, and it had someone on the video, like, 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. >> and were there social media posts that they showed you responding to those false claims? >> well, when -- when i saw the video, of course the first thing th i saw it was, like, why? why are they doing this? what's going on? and they, you know, just told me that trump and his allies were not satisfied with the outcome of the election, and they -- they were getting a lot of threats and being harassed online and asked me, you know, have i been receiving anything, and i need to check on my mom.

and i told them i -- you know, i was, like, where? where have they -- you know, where have you been getting these threats? i don't believe i have any. and mr. jones told me, like, they're attacking his facebook. and i don't really use facebook. i have one so i went to the facebook app. and i'm just kind of panicky at this point because this has never happened to me, and my mom is involved. i'm, like, her only child. so i'm just -- asked 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, did they include threats? >> yes, a lot of threats wishing

death upon me, telling me that, you know, i'm -- i'll be in jail with my mother and saying things like be glad it's 2020 and not 1920. >> were a lot of these threats and vile comments racist in nature? >> a lot of them were racist. a lot of them were just hateful, yes, sir. >> in one of the videos we just watched, mr. giuliani accused you and your mother of passing some sort of usb drive to each other. what was your mom actually handing you on that video? >> a ginger mint. >> it wasn't just rudy giuliani. we heard president trump make these false allegations repeatedly during his call with secretary raffensperger. let's listen to a portion of what he had to say about you and your mother.

pres. trump: we had at least 18,000. that's on tape. we had them counted very painstakingly, 18,000 voters having to do with e ruby freeman. that's -- she's a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler. >> donald trump attacked you and your mother, using her name 18 times on that call. 18 times. ms. moss, can you describe what you experienced listening to former president trump attack you and your mother in a call with the georgia secretary of state? >> i felt horrible. i felt like it was all my fault, like, if i would have never decided to be an elections work, like, i could have -- -- i could've 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 bad. i just felt bad for my mom, and i felt horrible for picking this job and ing the one that always wants to help and always there, never missing not one election. i just felt like it was -- it was my fault for putting my family in this situation. cook's well, it -- >> well, it wasn't your fault. your mother was kind enough to come speak with us earlier. let's listen to her story in her words. my name is ruby freeman. i've always believed it when god says that he'll make your name great, but this is not the way it was supposed to be.

i could have never imagined the events that followed the presidential election 2020. for my entire professional life, i was lady ruby. my community in georgia where i was born and lived my whole life knew me as lady ruby. i built my own business around that name, laruby's unique treasures, a pop up shop catering to ladies with unique fashions. i wore a shirt that proudly proclaimed that i was and i am lady ruby. actually, i had that shirt on -- i had that shirt in every color. i wore that shirt on election day 2020. i haven't worn it since and i'll never wear it again. 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 scapegoat me and my daughter shaye to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen. >> ms. moss, how has this experience of being targeted by the former president and his allies affected your life? >> this turned my life upside down.

i no longer give out my business card. i don't transfer calls. i -- 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've gained about 60 pounds. i just don't do nothing anymore. i don't want to go anywhere. i second guess everything that i do. it's affected my life in a -- in a major way. in every way. all because of lies. for me doing my job, same thing i've been doing forever.

>> your mother also told this committee about how she had to leave her own home for her safety and go into hiding after the i told her that it would not be safe for her there before january 6 and until the inauguration. let's listen to a clip of her story in her own words. >> around the week of january 6, the fbi informed me that i needed to leave my home for safety. and i left my home for safety around that time. >> understood. how long did you stay out, did you, you know, remain outside of your home for your own safety? >> i stayed away from my home for approximately two months. it was horrible. i felt homeless. i felt, you know, i can't believe -- i can't believe this person has caused this much

damage to me and my family. to have to leave my home that i've lived there for 21 years. and, you know, i'm having to have my neighbors watch out for me. you know, and i have to go and stay with somebody. it was hard. it was horrible. >> and your conversation with the fbi about needing to leave your home for your -- your own safety or perhaps recommending it, do you remember was there a specific threat that prompted that or was it the accumulation of threats that you had received? >> what prompted it was -- was getting ready to -- january 6 was about to come. and they did not want me to be at home because of all the threats and everything that i had gotten. they didn't want me to be there

in fear of, you know, that people were coming to my home. and i had a lot of that, so they didn't want me to be there just in case something happened. i asked, how long am i going to have to be gone? they said, at least until the inauguration. >> ms. moss, i understand that people once showed up at your grandmother's house. tell us about that experience. >> i received a call from my grandmother. this 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, "shaye, shaye, oh my gosh, shaye." just freaking me out saying that there are people at her home and

they, you know, they knocked on the door and of course she opened it 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, like, screaming and didn't know what to do. and i wasn't there. so, you know, i just felt so helpless and so horrible for her. and she was just screaming. i told her to close the door. don't open the door for anyone. and, you know, she's a 70 something -- i won't say -- your old woman. and she doesn't ke having restrictions. she wants to answer the door. she likes to g her steps in walking around the neighborhood. and i had to tell her, like, you can't do that.

you have to be safe. you know, she would tell me that at night people would just continuously send pizzas over and over to her home. you know, and they was expecting her to pay for these large amounts of pizzas. and she went through a lot that she didn't have to. and once again, it made me just feel so horrible. >> in addition to the personal impact this experience has had on you and your family, one of the things that i find most disturbing is how these lies discourage longtime election workers from continuing to do this important work. tell us, if you would, of the other election workers shown in that state farm arena video and their supervisors how many are still election workers in fulton county? >> there is no permanent election worker or supervisor in

that video that's still there. >> and did you end up leaving your position as well? close yes i left. ,>> ms. moss, i want to thank you for coming in to speak with us and i thank you for your service to our democracy. what we have just played is a truly horrible and appalling sample, but just a sample of the things that were said about you and your mother following the election. i want to say how very sorry i think we all are for what you've gone through. and tragically, you are not alone. other election workers around the country have also been the subject of lies and threats. no election workers should be subject to such heinous treatment just for doing their job. with your permission, i would like to give your mother the last word. >> yes. >> we're just going to play the tape. >> 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 ruby, 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. amy: deposition video ruby freeman, mother of shaye moss, both former georgia state election workers, whose testimony was heard tuesday by the house select committee to investigate the january 6 attack on the united states capitol. ruby was sitting behind her daughter during shaye's testimony. to see all four public hearings

in full, you can go to democracynow.org. we are also livestreaming the fifth hearing on thursday at 1:00 p.m. eastern at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013.ñcñcñcc

♪ hello there and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. russian troops have inched closer and closer to a pair of targets in eastern ukraine. they've rolled through defensive positions. now they're trying to encircle fighters in twin cities they believe would allow them to complete their conquest of the region. the russians have captured three villages near lysychansk and