Afraid for her life after Rudolph W. Giuliani and other Trump allies falsely accused her of fraud, Georgia election worker Wandrea Shaye Moss told jurors Tuesday that she rarely leaves her home, suffers from panic attacks and battles nightmares caused by a barrage. from threatening and racist people. to inform.

Years later, she still lives in fear that the lies will kill her, she said.

Moss took the witness stand on the second day of the defamation trial, which will determine how much Giuliani Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, will have to pay for spreading a conspiracy theory that they manipulated the 2020 election results. Moss sobbed as she tested her life turned upside down by the allegations, though they were quickly debunked by state officials.

Moss’ lawyers showed some of the graphic messages accusing her of treason and more that she received after Giuliani falsely accused employees of Atlanta’s State Farm Arena of ballot tampering in December 2020. Moss told jurors she was a cheerful, outgoing person before the conspiracy theories started, but since then she has been stuck in a lonely cycle of crying and nightmares.

Judge holds Giuliani liable in defamation case against Georgia election workers

“I’m most afraid that my son will find me and/or my mother hanging from a tree in front of our house, while he has to get news at school that his mother has been murdered,” the 39-year-old said. At some point in January 2021, she said, someone came to her grandmother’s door and threatened a citizen’s arrest.

Moss and her mother are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages from Giuliani in the defamation case, as the former New York mayor prepares to defend himself against criminal charges in a separate case in Georgia. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case accusing him and others of conspiring to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The judge overseeing the defamation case has already found Giuliani liable, and Giuliani has acknowledged in court that he made public comments falsely claiming that Freeman and Moss committed fraud during the counting of ballots. The only issue remaining in the trial is the amount of damages Giuliani will have to pay to the women.

The women’s lawyers estimated that the reputational damage could amount to $47 million, and suggested that the emotional and punitive damages on top of that could amount to tens of millions. Giuliani’s attorney has said any award should be much lower.

‘There’s no place I feel safe’: Election workers explain how Trump’s lies turned their lives upside down

Moss, who also tested for the U.S. House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, described being taken to her director’s office after Giuliani made the claims during a hearing before Georgia lawmakers. Moss had no idea lies were being spread about them and thought her director wanted to recognize her for her pageant work or give her a promised promotion, she told jurors. Instead, the atmosphere in the room was summery, and she soon learned the real reason for the meeting.

I was shown these videos, these lies, everything that was going on that I had no idea about, Moss said.

Moss said she went home that night, scared and confused, and could only watch as the angry messages poured in. She had her long blonde hair cut off and dyed the next day in an attempt to reclaim someone.

from her

anonymity. A video was shown in court of Giuliani talking on his online show about a bogus suitcase voting conspiracy, saying: How can someone with so much power go public and talk about things he clearly has no idea about? “It’s just clear that they are lies.”

Her 14-year-old son was using her cell phone as a hotspot to attend online classes when the harassment began in December 2020 because she couldn’t afford internet at home, she said. Moss said people found her number online and started sending a flood of calls and messages, disconnecting him from his virtual classes just as finals were approaching.

‘I have lost my sense of security’: lessons from the testimony during the hearing on Tuesday, January 6

Giuliani’s attorney, Joseph Sibley, says there is little evidence that Giuliani was directly responsible for the threats and intimidation. He has also suggested that the damages could ruin his client financially, saying the women are seeking the civil equivalent of the death penalty.

Giuliani is expected to testify in the trial, even though anything he says on the witness stand could be used against him in the criminal case.

Moss’ testimony came hours after the judge scolded Giuliani for comments he made outside the federal courthouse in Washington on Monday in which he insisted his claims about the women were true.

“When I testify, the whole story will be absolutely clear that what I said was true, and that whatever happened to them, which is unfortunate that other people overreacted, everything I said about them is true,” Giuliani told reporters as he left the courthouse. on Monday.

Rudy Giuliani does not dispute that he made false statements about election workers in Georgia

Giuliani added that Moss and Freeman were working on changing votes. When a reporter pushed back and said there was no evidence of that, Giuliani responded: You’re damn right, there is… Stay tuned.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell warned Giuliani’s attorney that his client’s comments once again amounted to defamatory statements about them. The judge was incredulous, asking Giuliani’s attorney about the contradiction in his opening statements in which he called Freeman and Moss good people, but then the former mayor repeated baseless allegations of voter fraud.

How should we reconcile that?” she asked the lawyer.

Sibley conceded her point and told the judge he discussed the comments with his client, but added: I have no control over anything he does.

79 years old

The mayor’s age and health problems make long days in court challenging.

Richer reported from Boston.