Victims thrust to the center of former President Donald Trump’s post-election conspiracy theories have shared their tumultuous experiences before.
Rusty Bowers, a Republican who served as Arizona House speaker, said he was maligned as a “pedophile” by people outside his home and faced death threats, which deeply upset his terminally ill daughter in her dying days.
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, has spoken out about conspiracy-based threats made toward him and his family after he turned down Trump’s infamous request to “find” 11,780 votes.
Two former Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, have said that the death threats and racist vitriol they received from Trump supporters after the 2020 election altered their lives forever.
They all have their own harrowing stories to share, and each victim played a significant role in the racketeering charges handed down Monday against Trump and 18 co-defendants. The indictment in Georgia provides several examples of Trump and company’s incessant push to force Bowers, Raffensperger and Freeman to further Trump’s post-election lies.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she likes Georgia’s RICO law because it allows her to tell a jury the full story of a defendant’s alleged criminality. And what a story that will be if the MAGA movement’s top targets are in the courtroom testifying.
Keep in mind: A Trump trial in Georgia is likely to be televised, meaning any of these potential witnesses could bury the MAGA movement while millions watch at home.
So the stage is set for potentially bombshell testimony in the Fulton County courtroom. Testifying — or aiding Willis’ prosecution in any way — would almost certainly result in Freeman, Bowers or Raffensperger facing even more vitriol from the MAGA movement.
But given their prominence in this indictment, their testimony may also be the final nail in the coffin for Trump’s life as a free man.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.