For some reason, Donald Trump recently decided to start pushing conspiracy theories — again — about Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, who both worked as election workers during the historical contention of 2020.
The two, who helped with handling that year’s elections in the Atlanta area, for some other reason became the target of conspiracy theories about their supposed involvement in imaginary fraud, and Trump recently reupped the nonsense with a series of audio clips he posted on Truth Social, in which it’s not always clear what’s actually being said and in which nobody admits to anything particularly specific or paradigm-shattering. “Nobody, not even a former president, has a right to intentionally spread damaging, defamatory lies about fellow citizens,” attorney Van Dubose, who represents both Freeman and Moss, said this week. “The lies about Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss have been proven false over and over again, but they have nonetheless upended my clients’ lives and continue to threaten their safety.”
Using the word “defamatory” is certainly pointed since a claim of defamation can, of course, provide the basis for litigation. The two already brought other litigation alleging defamation that targeted far-right media sources and Rudy Giuliani, the perennially embattled ally to Trump. Other plaintiffs have, too, including Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, both of which are election technology companies that somehow became the subject of conspiracy theories about 2020 election fraud. Claims made by Trump and others about Freeman and her daughter were already comprehensively debunked.
“Don’t forget that Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and all others were rushed out of the voter count room in Georgia because of a big “WATER MAIN BREAK,”” he claimed on Wednesday. “Like everything else, it was FAKE, there was no water main break. Ruby’s group (only) soon came back into the room, with no security or vote watchers, grabbed the thousands and thousands of ballots hidden under a cloth skirted table, and began putting them into (STUFFING) the machines, all caught on tape, and so OBVIOUSLY WRONG. They can’t explain!” According to PolitiFact, the issue explained in some accounts as a burst pipe (although it was actually something else) unfolded much earlier in the day than the time period on which Trump and others have focused, there were actually still personnel responsible for the security and supervision of the process physically present, and the ballots supposedly “hidden” under a table didn’t mysteriously appear. They were previously opened then later scanned.
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
