Years after their lives were turned upside down by conspiracy theorists, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, were officially cleared by Georgia authorities on Tuesday.
Georgia’s State Election Board dismissed its yearslong investigation into alleged election fraud at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, more than two years after conspiracy theorists — and then-President Donald Trump — claimed that Freeman and her daughter had committed election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The fraud claims were “unsubstantiated and found to have no merit,” the investigation concluded, reporting on the work of the FBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and investigators from the Secretary of State’s office vetting the alleged fraud.
During their efforts to overturn the results of the election, Trump and his ally Rudy Giuliani repeatedly claimed that Freeman and Moss had committed election fraud. A heavily edited, brief clip of security footage was widely circulated online and by Trump allies as supposed proof.
Giuliani said Freeman and Moss were passing USB drives “like vials of heroin or cocaine” during ballot-counting operations. Moss later explained her mother handed her a ginger mint during ballot counting.
Freeman in particular became a regular target for Trump, and the former president made false comments about her on social media as recently as January.
The Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
State officials said at the time that the election workers had done nothing wrong, but both women were relentlessly harassed. Freeman fled her home, fearing for her safety.
Last year, the U.S. House’s Jan. 6 committee played taped testimony from Freeman and Moss during a congressional hearing.
“There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere,” Freeman said last June. “I have lost my name and I have lost my reputation. … All because a group of people starting with number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter.”
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