Election Employee Tells Jury: ‘Giuliani Simply Messed Me Up’

Ruby Freeman, a former Georgia election employee, sat in a federal courtroom on Wednesday and instructed a jury: “Giuliani simply messed me up, you understand.”

She was referring to Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was sitting just a few ft from her, as she described how her life has been upended since Dec. 3, 2020. That was the date Mr. Giuliani, then the private lawyer to President Donald J. Trump, directed his hundreds of thousands of social media followers to observe a video of two election staff in Fulton County, Ga., asserting with none foundation that they had been dishonest Mr. Trump as they counted votes on Election Day.

The employees had been Ms. Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss.

Ms. Freeman, who’s Black, recounted what adopted: a torrent of threats, accusations and racism; messages from individuals who stated she must be hanged for treason, or lynched; individuals who fantasized about listening to the sound of her neck snap.

They discovered her at her residence. They despatched messages to her enterprise e-mail and social media accounts. They referred to as her cellphone a lot that it crashed, she stated.

The harassment received so dangerous that the F.B.I. instructed Ms. Freeman she was not protected within the residence the place she had lived for years. She stayed with a pal till she felt she put that pal in danger after legislation enforcement officers instructed her that they had arrested somebody who had her title on a dying record.

Ms. Freeman’s title had change into a rallying cry throughout conservative information retailers, embodying a conspiracy idea that Trump supporters embraced as they tried to maintain him in workplace.

“This all began with one tweet,” Ms. Freeman stated on Wednesday, the third day of a trial to find out what compensation she and Ms. Moss deserve from Mr. Giuliani. Choose Beryl A. Howell beforehand dominated that Mr. Giuliani unfold lies about them, deliberately inflicted emotional misery on them and engaged in a conspiracy with others as he led the efforts to maintain Mr. Trump in workplace.

Ashlee Humphreys, a professor at Northwestern College’s Medill College of Journalism who testified as an skilled witness for the plaintiffs, instructed the jury that the value tag for repairing the harm completed to their reputations could be between $17.4 million and $47.4 million.

Mr. Giuliani’s lawyer, Joseph Sibley IV, has stated that dimension of injury award could be the civil equal of the dying penalty — an outline Choose Howell referred to as “hyperbolic.”

Regardless that Georgia officers shortly dismissed the accusations in opposition to the 2 girls, and a yearslong investigation cleared them of wrongdoing, Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss stated they proceed to undergo the results.

Ms. Freeman stated she may not use her title, making it troublesome when she purchased a brand new home and needed to register for utilities. She wears a masks and sun shades when she is in public.

“Generally I don’t know who I’m,” she stated. “What’s my title at this time?”

After she bought her new residence, Ms. Freeman had safety cameras put in all through. She stated the neighbors are pleasant, however she retains to herself to keep away from introductions.

“My life is simply tousled,” she stated as her testimony got here to an finish. “It’s simply actually tousled, all as a result of someone put me on blast, simply tweet my title to their hundreds of thousands of followers.”

Mr. Sibley declined to cross-examine Ms. Freeman. Mr. Giuliani’s protection will start on Thursday, when he’s anticipated to testify.