The names of mother and daughter Georgia pollsters who memorably testified before the Jan. 6 commission were found on a “death list” maintained by an alleged leader of the militant Oath Keepers group, according to court records.
Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss gave heartbreaking testimony to the House Committee in June that they had been the target of racist attacks and threats for doing their job as election aides in the wake of Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged.
“I’ve lost my name and I’ve lost my reputation,” Ruby Freeman said in a pre-recorded interview that aired during the hearing. “I have lost my sense of security. All because a group of people, starting with number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me to spread their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen.”
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Moss, Freeman’s daughter, testified that she no longer felt safe leaving the house.
The women’s names were written on a piece of paper labeled “death list,” found by police at the home of suspected oath-keeper Thomas Caldwell, according to court documents.
Caldwell, a Navy veteran who once served as a FBI Section Chief, is one of nine alleged Oathkeepers charged with seditious conspiracy after the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Caldwell is also charged with obstructing official proceedings, destroying government property and unlawful access to prohibited buildings or areas, according to the complaints against him. He was known in the group as “Commander Tom,” authorities said.
Federal prosecutors announced the existence of the “death list” early this month, but did not include the names of the workers. However, a court filed by Caldwell’s attorney in response revealed their identities in a footnote, including: Politico’s Kyle Cheney was the first to notice.
Caldwell’s attorney claimed in his file on Friday that the list is nothing more than a harmless “doodlepad.”
“This document is not a ‘list’, but rather a scribble pad. The words ‘kill list’ are capitalized, while the rest of the writing on the doodle pad is capitalized and lower-case,” the defense movement argued to rule out the notepad evidence in the Caldwell case.
