Former Georgia election worker describes receiving threats after Trump targeted her
Former Georgia election worker Wandrea ArShaye Moss testifies on Tuesday. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker, told the Jan. 6 House select committee about "hateful" and "racist" threats she received via Facebook
"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,'" Moss said.
Former President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani alleged that she and her mother were seen in a video passing a USB drive to each other. Moss said her mother was just giving her a ginger mint.
"I felt like it was my fault for putting my family in this situation," she said.
Moss also described to the committee how much she loved her job, in which she helped voters with any questions they had.
"I've always been told by my grandmother how important it is to vote and how people before me, a lot of people, older people in my family, did not have that right," she said.
"I liked being the one that, you know, if someone couldn't navigate my voter page or, you know, they want a new precinct card, they don't have a copy machine or a computer or all of that, I could put it in the mail for them. I was excited always about sending out all the absentee ballots for the elderly and disabled people. I even remember driving to a hospital to give someone her absentee application. That's what I loved the most," Moss said.
3:29 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
Trump called RNC chairwoman about fake elector plan, she told Jan. 6 committee
From CNN's Katelyn Polantz, Holmes Lybrand and Pamela Brown
The taped deposition of Ronna Romney McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, was played on Tuesday. (January 6 Committee Interview)
The head of the Republican Party testified to the House select committee that former President Donald Trump called her as part of an effort to use fake electors to support him.
The new detail links Trump directly to efforts to put forward rogue, alternate slates of electors in states that he lost, even though his top lawyers in the White House and the campaign knew the approach wasn’t legally sound.
“Essentially, he turned the call over to Mr. [John] Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors," Ronna Romney McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said in her taped deposition. "My understanding is the campaign did take the lead, and we just were helping them in that role.”
She noted that the electors were being pulled together in case Trump legal challenges succeeded in blocking Biden wins.
The campaign wasn't entirely on board, however.
Some of the top officials in the Trump campaign and White House believed the fake electors plan wasn't legal, and left the push to lawyers like Eastman and Rudy Giuliani who had swarmed after the election, the committee said.
In an interview with the committee, Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to the White House chief of staff, confirmed to the committee that lawyers with the White House counsel said the plot was not legally sound. She said former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani were involved in the meeting.
“Nevertheless,” Rep. Adam Schiff said, “the Trump campaign went forward with the scheme anyway.”
Two top campaign lawyers, Matt Morgan and Justin Clark, said in their taped depositions that they told Trump lawyers pushing the fake electors scheme they didn't want to take part.
"You just get after it. I'm out," Clark told the House, about a conversation he had with another lawyer who backed the fake electors plan, Kenneth Chesebro. "I don't think this is appropriate. This isn't the right thing to do."
Morgan described directing another campaign official to tell Chesebro: "This is your task. You are responsible for the Electoral College issues moving forward. This was my way of taking that responsibility to zero."
Before Tuesday, it wasn't known that Clark had spoken to the House select committee.
A source familiar with Clark’s testimony says he testified “a while back” and that Trump is likely not pleased his former lead campaign attorney is shown saying essentially his campaign didn’t have a case to back up Trump’s lies.
Clark still works with Trump. Last year he directed witnesses the House had subpoenaed to preserve executive privilege, and he represented Trump in his unsuccessful appeal to try to stop the release of White House documents from the National Archives.
3:22 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
In midst of threats, Raffensperger says he didn't walk away because "I knew we had followed the law"
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testifies on Tuesday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
In the face of threats and harassment from people across the country, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he didn't just walk away because he felt like he "had to be faithful to the Constitution."
Raffensperger testified before the Jan. 6 committee that after the election, he and his wife were both getting texts and emails. He said the texts to his wife were often sexual.
"We met in high school, we've been together over 40 years now," he said. "They started going after her, I think, to put pressure on me."
Raffensperger also said someone else broke into his daughter-in-law's home. Since she is a widow with two kids, he said he was "very concerned about her safety."
Despite all that, Raffensperger said he couldn't just quit and walk away because "I knew we had followed the law, we had followed the Constitution."
“I think sometimes, moments require you to stand up and just take the shots,” he said. “We followed the law and we followed the Constitution, and at the end of the day, President Trump came up short.”
"I had to be faithful to the Constitution," he added.
6:10 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
"The numbers don't lie": Raffensperger debunks Trump's allegations of election fraud
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testifies on Tuesday. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he and his team investigated "every single allegation" of election fraud from former President Donald Trump — and they came up with nothing indicating any fraud.
"Numbers don't lie. We had many allegations and we investigated every single one of them. I challenged my team did we miss anything? [Trump and his associates] said there was over 66,000 underaged voters. We found there was zero," he said.
"You can register to vote in Georgia when you're 17 1/2, you have to be 18 by Election Day. We checked that out, every single voter. They said that there was 2,423 non-registered voters; there were 0. They said that there was 2,056 felons; we identified 74 or less that were actually still on felony status," Raffensperger said.
"Every allegation we checked. We ran down the rabbit trail to make sure our numbers were accurate," he said.
Trump also claimed there were ballots using dead people's names, which Raffensperger said is highly inaccurate.
"In their lawsuits, they allege 10,315 dead people. We found two dead people when I wrote my letter to Congress that's dated Jan. 6 and subsequent to that, we found two more. That's one, two, three, four people. Not 4,000; just a total of four. Not 10,000, not 5,000," he said.
Watch:
6:10 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
Meadows reached out to Raffensperger's office 18 times to set up Trump call, committee says
From CNN's Jeremy Herb
Then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, left, reached out to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger 18 times to set up a call between Raffensperger and then-President Donald Trump. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows texted or called the office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger 18 times in an effort to set up a call between Raffensperger and then-President Donald Trump, Rep. Adam Schiff said during Tuesday’s hearing.
“They were quite persistent,” Schiff said.
Schiff, a California Democrat, said that Meadows “took the extraordinary step” of traveling to Georgia, where he met with Raffensperger’s chief investigator Frances Watson who was supervising the state’s election audit.
Before Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, call with Raffensperger – where Trump asked the secretary of state to “find” the votes he needed to win – Meadows set up a call between Watson and Trump on December 23, 2020.
CNN has previously reported that Meadows texted Raffensperger after the 2020 election at least twice, according to the Meadows text logs obtained by CNN. On Nov. 19, 2020, Meadows asked Raffensperger to “give me a brief call at your convenience.”
Meadows followed up again by text on December 5, 2020: “mr Secretary. Can you call the White House switchboard at 202 757 6000. For a call. Your voicemail is full.”
The full extent of Meadows' outreach, however, was not previously known until Tuesday’s hearing.
In addition to Raffensperger, Meadows was in contact with Raffensperger’s deputy, Jordan Fuchs, during Trump’s January 2 call.
"Need to end this call," Fuchs, then the deputy secretary of state, said in a text to Meadows. "I don't think this will be productive much longer."
She added: "Let's save the relationship."
3:07 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
Georgia election official says he argued with his own family members while combating election lies
Gabriel Sterling testifies on Tuesday. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)
Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer at the Georgia secretary of state's office, said he tried to combat misinformation through news conferences and local media, but was not able to compete with the reach and platform former President Trump had to spread false conspiracy theories — sometimes even arguing with his own family members.
"It was frustrating," Sterling said in live testimony before the Jan. 6 committee. "But oftentimes, I felt our information was getting out, but there was a reticence of people who needed to believe it, to believe it because the President of the United States, who many looked up to and respected, was telling them it wasn't true."
He said that despite the facts he was presenting at news conferences, this hesitation to believe the truth was very strong. Sterling said he even argued with family members.
"I even have family members who I had to argue with about some of these things," he said. "The problem you have is you're getting at people's hearts," he added.
Sterling said one specific example he remembers, is an attorney with who he showed the evidence.
"This wasn't true. I get that. This wasn't true. I get that — five or six things," Sterling said. "Then he said, I just know in my heart he cheated. Once you get past the heart, the facts don't matter as much."
He said the job of the secretary of state's office is to continue to combat that feeling and "get the facts out, do our job, tell the truth, follow the Constitution, follow the law and defend the institutions... and the institutions held."
3:01 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
Read the full transcript and listen to Trump's audio call with Georgia secretary of state
From CNN's Jason Morris, Chandelis Duster and Devan Cole
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, left, and former President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump pushed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn the election results after his loss to President Joe Biden, according to an audio recording of a phone call obtained by CNN.
Raffensperger is testifying now before the Jan. 6 committee and the panel is playing excerpts of the stunning one-hour phone call from Jan. 2, 2021. Trump lambasted his fellow Republican for refusing to falsely say that he won the election in Georgia and repeatedly touted baseless claims of election fraud.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump said in one part of the call.
Raffensperger responded, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”
In another part, Trump said, “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
“You should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a Republican,” Trump said at one point.
“We believe that we do have an accurate election,” Raffensperger said in response.
Read the full transcript of the call and listen to the audio here and watch more of the exchange between Trump and Raffensperger in the video below:
2:56 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
Georgia election official says he "lost it" when election contractor received death threats
Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling testifies on Tuesday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Georgia election official Gabe Sterling addressed the moment he directly called out former President Trump for inflammatory rhetoric which was impacting election workers in 2020.
On Dec. 1, 2020 Sterling said in remarks directed at Trump, "Mister President, it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia. We are investigating. There is always the possibility. I get it. You have the rights to go to the courts. What you don't have the ability to do, and you need to step up and say this, is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed. And it's not right."
Sterling recalled the moment he "lost it" when he found out an election contractor working for Dominion Systems was receiving death threats "that had been posted by some QAnon supporters."
"I did pull up Twitter. And I scrolled through. I saw the young man's name. There was a particular tweet that, for lack of a better word, it was the 'straw that broke the camel's back.' The young man's name, a very unique name, first generation American I believe. It said his name, 'You committed treason, may god have mercy on your soul,' with a slowly twisting gif of a noose. And for lack of a better word I lost it. I just got irate, my boss was with me at the time... she could tell that I was angry. I tend to turn red from here up when that happens. And that happened at that time," Sterling explained.
He continued, "And she called Secretary Raffensperger to say, 'We were receiving these kinds of threats and Gabe thinks we need to say something about it. The secretary said 'yes,' and that is what prompted me to do what I did. I lost my temper. But it seemed necessary at the time. Because it was just getting worse. I could not tell you why that particular one was the one that put me over the edge, but it did."
##Witnesses#
3:04 p.m. ET, June 21, 2022
Jan. 6 panel dissects a Trump-backed lie about "suitcases" of ballots in Atlanta
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
Video of then-President Donald Trump is played above the committee on Tuesday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The Jan. 6 select committee dissected a Trump-backed conspiracy theory about the 2020 election in Atlanta, breaking down how it originated from the campaign, was amplified on social media, and ultimately “threatened the lives of several innocent election workers,” Rep. Adam Schiff said.
Schiff, a committee members and a California Democrat, explained Trump’s conspiracy theory: Trump claimed that election officials in Atlanta kicked out GOP poll watchers, brought in suitcases of ballots with votes for Biden, and repeatedly ran the ballots through the vote-counting machines. (The claim was completely false.)
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani first peddled the claims at a Georgia State Senate hearing, where he played footage of vote-counting at the State Farm Arena and called it “a smoking gun” of alleged fraud, asserting that suitcases of illegitimate ballots were snuck into the room.
The Trump campaign “amplified Giuliani’s false testimony,” Schiff said, by tweeting out the same footage from the arena. The footage came from OAN, a far-right TV network that often promotes pro-Trump conspiracy theories. Giuliani also tweeted about the video after his appearance in front of the Georgia lawmakers.
The only problem? Georgia election officials looked into the suitcases issue and quickly determined that it wasn’t proof of fraud. Gabe Sterling, a top Georgia election official, publicly debunked the theory in an early December 2020 news conference, a clip of which was played during Tuesday’s committee hearing.
Testifying to the committee, Sterling said “this conspiracy theory took on a life of its own” and that the footage showed “normal ballot processing,” despite all of the frenzies claims from Team Trump.
Trump was also briefed by the Justice Department that the allegations of fake ballots in suitcases was unfounded. Yet it has remained to be one of the centerpieces of Trump’s allegations of fraud in 2020.
