‘USB drive’ Giuliani claimed was passed between election workers was really a ginger mint, witness tells Jan 6 hearing

Claims from Trump and Giuliani upended poll worker’s life, witness testifies

Surveillance footage that Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani repeatedly claimed showed a Georgia election worker committing voter fraud with a USB stick really showed her holding a ginger mint, according to testimony on Tuesday in the 6 January hearings.

After the 2020 election, the former president and his lawyer repeatedly pointed to footage of Georgia election worker Shaye Moss and claimed it showed her using a flash drive and a suitcase to compromise the election.

Even after officials investigated and found that no voter fraud occurred, both men continued spreading the false claim, an experience that led Ms Moss and her mother to get violent, racist threats online.

“It was just a lot of horrible things in there,” she told the January 6 committee on Tuesday in her testimony. “Threats, a lot of threats wishing death upon me. Telling me, that I will be in jail with my mother and saying things like, be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920.”

The Independent has reached out to Mr Trump and Mr Giuliani for comment.

Shaye Moss, former Georgia election worker, becomes emotional while testifying as her mother Ruby Freeman watches during the fourth hearing held by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol on 21 June 2022. (Getty Images)

Elsewhere during the hearing, Georgia election officials described how Trump administration attorney general Bill Barr asked them to investigate the allegations, including that poll workers were stuffing a suitcase with ballots, which they concluded were unfounded.

“The FBI interviewed the individuals depicted in the videos that purportedly were triple-counting the ballots and determined nothing irregular happened in the counting and the allegations made by Mr Giuliani were false,” former US Attorney for Georgia BJay Pak told the special committee.

The false election claims from the leading Republicans turned Ms Moss’s life upside-down, she testified.

"I no longer give out my business card. I don’t transfer calls. I don’t want anyone knowing my name. I don’t want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name out in the grocery aisle or something. I don’t go to the grocery store at all; I haven’t been anywhere at all," Ms Moss said.

"I’ve gained about 60 pounds. I just don’t do nothing anymore. I don’t want to go anywhere. I second-guess everything that I do. It’s affected my life in a major way, in every way — all because of lies. For me doing my job, same thing I’ve been doing forever," she added.