Georgia election workers sue Giuliani, OAN over election conspiracy theories

Two former election workers in the state of Georgia are suing the right-wing TV network One America News (OAN) and former Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani for hurting their reputations and instigating Trump supporters to harass them over false claims of election fraud in 2020.

Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, who worked as poll workers at State Farm Arena in Fulton County during the November 2020 election, in a new lawsuit filed on Thursday say they became the victims of unfounded conspiracy theories purported by Giuliani and top OAN employees.

President Joe Biden won narrowly in Georgia against Trump in a bitterly-contested election.

Freeman says because of the election fraud accusations, she was asked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to leave her home from January 6, when a mob surrounded it, until the presidential inauguration later that month.

She mentions hundreds of harassing emails, texts and calls she received from Trump supporters.

Her daughter Moss claims that strangers sent pizzas to her grandmother's house to harass her and came to the house twice to attempt to make a "citizen's arrest."

“As a result of their vital service, Freeman and Moss have become the objects of vitriol, threats, and harassment,” says the lawsuit filed in US District Court in Washington.

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“They found themselves in this unenviable position not based on anything they did, but instead because of a campaign of malicious lies designed to accuse them of interfering with a fair and impartial election, which is precisely what each of them swore an oath to protect.”

It says both women are afraid to live normal lives owing to threat from the Trump supporters.

"Freeman is fearful when she hears her name called in public; Moss now fears risking even a visit to the grocery store and must get her groceries delivered instead. Defendants have inflicted, and continue to inflict, severe and ongoing emotional and economic damage," the lawsuit notes.

Giuliani, an American politician and attorney who served as the mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001, has been named in the lawsuit because of his regular appearances on OAN after the election and because of his podcast, where he raised conspiracy theories of fraud in the Georgia election and accused Freeman of past voter fraud.

The duo is also suing the controversial California-based cable news network's White House correspondent Chanel Rion and its owners Robert and Charles Herring.

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OAN and Giuliani are already facing other lawsuits from the elections software company Dominion Voting Systems that has sought billions of dollars in compensation.

Trump also called Freeman a "professional vote scammer and hustler" on a phone call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2 asking him to "find" him votes, the lawsuit notes.

"Though the initial claims by the Trump campaign team were based only on short selections of the Trump Edited Video and did not name any individual Fulton County election workers, OAN and Giuliani were some of the first and only outlets and commenters to specifically name Freeman and Moss, and they have continued to do so for more than a year," the lawsuit says.

Robert Herring  was quoted as saying by Reuters that his network had "done nothing wrong," adding that he was "laughing" at the lawsuit and "four or five others" filed against the company.

"Eventually, it will turn on them and go the other way," Herring said.

Freeman and Ross filed a similar lawsuit against far-right website The Gateway Pundit earlier this month.

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