Shaye Moss: ‘I don’t want anyone knowing my name’

A former US election worker who was singled out by Trump allies in their baseless fraud claims has testified to lawmakers probing the Capitol riot.

“It turned my life upside down,” said Shaye Moss, adding that she has received countless death threats since the 2020 presidential election.

On day four of public hearings, the panel heard from Republicans who Mr Trump pressured to overturn the vote.

She and her mother, also an ex-election worker, said they now live in fear.

“It’s turned my life upside down. I no longer give out my business card. I don’t transfer calls. I don’t want anyone knowing my name,” she told the Democratic-led committee on Tuesday.

“I don’t go anywhere with my mom. I don’t go to the grocery store at all. I haven’t been anywhere at all. I’ve gained about 60lbs.”

“I don’t do nothing anymore. I don’t want to go anywhere. I second guess everything I do. It’s affected my life in a major way. In every way. All because of lies,” Ms Moss continued.

She, along with her mother, Ruby Freeman, worked on election day counting ballots in Atlanta for Fulton County. She had held the full-time job there from 2017-22.

The month after Mr Trump’s election loss, the mother and daughter were thrust into the spotlight after a lawyer for the Trump campaign released a CCTV clip showing Ms Moss appearing to be handed something by her mother.

Conservative media and Trump aides began arguing that the edited footage showed an illegal scheme to input 18,000 false ballots supporting Mr Biden into election counting machines.

In her testimony before lawmakers on Tuesday, Ms Moss said her mother was handing her a “ginger mint” package, not a USB drive, as conspiracy theorists claimed.

As Mr Trump and his allies continued to argue their debunked claims, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani asked Georgia lawmakers to search the homes of Ms Moss and Ms Freeman for evidence, and compared them to drug dealers.

In a one-hour call Mr Trump made to Georgia’s secretary of state, he badgered him to “find” the number of ballots he needed to defeat Mr Biden and specifically mentioned Ms Ross 18 times.

“Now I won’t even introduce myself by my name anymore,” she continued in her testimony on Tuesday.

“I get nervous when I bump into someone I know in the grocery store who says my name. I’m worried about who is listening. I get nervous when I have to give my name for food orders.”

“I’ve lost my name and I’ve lost my reputation,” she continued.

Ms Moss won a John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award earlier this this year. The award is given to those who show the “courage to protect and defend democracy in the United States and abroad”.

She has successfully sued one conservative media network, settling for an undisclosed sum, and is still actively suing Mr Giuliani.

“Do you know how it feels to have the President of the United States target you?” Ms Freeman said in her recorded deposition, which was shown to the committee on Tuesday.

“The President of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one.”