Poll Worker Accused Of Fraud Passed A Ginger Mint, Not Tainted USB

As former President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani peddled unfounded theories alleging election fraud in November 2020, an election poll worker in Georgia found herself in the eye of the storm.

Shaye Moss was accused by Trump and Giuliani of passing along a USB drive that contained voter information in security footage.

In actuality, it was a ginger mint.

During Tuesday’s hearing into the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot and Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the election, Moss offered her account of what happened in the video as well as what transpired after it.

"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," Moss told Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

"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.

After Giuliani and Trump accused her and her mother, who had passed her the ginger mint, of committing voter fraud, Moss said the threats from Trump supporters soon followed.

Soon after, Moss and her monther, who are Black, began receiving violent and racist threats.

Her son and grandmother were also not spared. At one point, Moss recounted that a person showed up at her grandmother's house looking for her to execute what he said was a "citizen's arrest."

Moss’ story follows similar accounts by election workers, who found themselves victimized by a deluge of threats by individuals galvanized by Trump’s voter fraud claims. Despite many being reported to law enforcement, it has proven difficult to identify and then prosecute these individuals over First Amendment-related concerns.

A week before Moss’ testimony, the committee also heard from federal law enforcement, who explained that they investigated allegations of voter fraud and found nothing to substantiate them.

“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,” said former U.S. Attorney for Georgia B.J. Pak, who resigned a day before the Capitol Riot over pressure from the Trump administration over the voter fraud claims.