“There is no place where I feel safe. Do you know what it feels like when the President of the United States targets you? The President of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not target one. But he targeted me. Lady Ruby. »
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Since the start of its public hearings, the January 6 commission has heard witnesses likely to help it demonstrate the illegal or unconstitutional nature of the efforts of Donald Trump and members of his entourage to invalidate the presidential election of 2020.
On Tuesday, during its fourth hearing, the Commission did not abandon this approach, returning to the pressure exerted by the former president and his allies on Republican officials in Arizona and Georgia, among others, to change the election results.
But she did more, giving voice to two poll workers from Fulton County, Georgia, who were victims of Donald Trump’s personal cruelty.
Along with Rudolph Giuliani and other allies, the former president invented a conspiracy theory and falsely accused Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, of voter fraud, then exposing them to threats that ruined their lives.
“I lost my name and I lost my reputation,” Ruby Freeman, a 70-year-old, said in deposition presented by the Commission. “I lost my sense of security, all because a group of people, starting with number 45 [Donald Trump] and his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me to spread his own lies about how the presidential election was stolen. »
His daughter, who testified in person, particularly remembered the racist messages that were sent to her on Facebook. One of Donald Trump’s supporters wrote: “Be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920.”
During her testimony, Shaye Moss recalled the pleasure she had had until 2020 in helping African-Americans of a certain age to exercise the right to vote which some had been deprived of.
Des menaces devant chez lui
Trois responsables républicains ont également témoigné en personne. L’un d’eux, Rusty Bowers, président de la Chambre des représentants de l’Arizona, a qualifié de « troublantes, tout simplement troublantes », les menaces dont lui et sa famille ont fait l’objet après son refus de céder aux pressions de Donald Trump.
« Chez nous, jusqu’à récemment, c’était un nouveau rituel dans nos vies de s’inquiéter de ce qui va se passer le samedi », a-t-il raconté en évoquant les divers groupes qui venaient manifester devant son domicile pour l’accuser de pédophilie et de corruption, entre autres.
M. Bowers, qui a voté deux fois pour Donald Trump, a raconté que l’ancien président et M. Giuliani l’avaient pressé de tenir une audition parlementaire sur le scrutin présidentiel en Arizona et de remplacer les grands électeurs de Joe Biden par une liste favorable à Donald Trump.
Il s’est souvenu d’avoir demandé à M. Giuliani de lui fournir des preuves de fraude électorale en Arizona. L’ancien maire de New York a répondu, selon son témoignage : « Nous avons beaucoup de théories. Nous n’avons tout simplement pas de preuves. »
« Je ne voulais pas être utilisé comme un pion », a déclaré M. Bowers devant la commission du 6-Janvier.
Photo JONATHAN ERNST, REUTERS
Rusty Bowers
J’ai dit [à Donald Trump] “Listen, you’re asking me to do something that’s against my oath, when I’ve sworn on the Constitution to uphold it.”
Rusty Bowers, Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
An hour before the start of Mr. Bowers’ hearing, Donald Trump released a statement that the Arizona lawmaker had told him that the presidential election in Arizona “was rigged”. During his testimony, Mr. Bowers denied having made such comments.
Votes “to find”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his right-hand man, Gabriel Sterling, also testified in person about pressure from Donald Trump and his allies to change the results of the presidential ballot in their state.
“There were no votes to be found,” Mr. Raffensperger said, referring to his January 2, 2021 telephone interview with Donald Trump, during which the latter asked him to find the “11,780 votes” for him. he needed to beat Joe Biden in the Peach State.
“We had an accurate count that had been certified,” he added.
The Jan. 6 commission heard testimony implicating Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs and Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson in the Trump camp’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The Commission’s next hearing, which will take place on Thursday, will focus on the pressure exerted by Donald Trump to “corrupt” the American Department of Justice.