Among the 18 other people charged in former President Donald Trump's Georgia election racketeering case is Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, an Illinois pastor and former police chaplain who is accused of trying to coerce two Georgia poll workers into falsely providing evidence of fraud.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, David Shestokas said that his client is "nervous" — but has no plans to cooperate with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
"Lee is accused of trying to pressure a temporary election worker, Ruby Freeman, to confess to a slew of bogus assertions by Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and other MAGA-world luminaries, that Freeman and her daughter, who are Black, surreptitiously introduced suitcases stuffed with thousands of fake ballots into the counting process to help Joe Biden," reported Justin Rohrlich. "Trump referenced Freeman over and over during his infamous Jan. 2, 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, in which he exhorted Raffensperger to 'find' enough local votes to undo Biden’s win. Freeman was 'a professional vote scammer and hustler,' Trump lied, calling the 60-something Freeman a 'known political operative.'"
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Lee is one of a number of people who allegedly went to Freeman's house and tried to push her into confirming the conspiracy theories about the rigged election. Freeman reported him to police, and when officers responded, he said, “I’m a pastor, and I’m also working with some folks who are trying to help Ruby out — and also get to some truth of what’s going on.”
Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, testified to the House January 6 Select Committee that the false claims pushed by Trump operatives destroyed their lives and subjected them to endless harassment and threats. Their testimony reportedly was a major point that stuck with the grand jury that issued the indictments.
“Neither the reverend nor I were ever contacted by anyone from Fulton County,” Shestokas told The Daily Beast. “We were quite surprised by the reverend's indictment since Fulton County had not even been able to make a case in an Illinois court that Rev. Lee was a material witness. With that in mind, we were quite astounded to learn of his indictment as a defendant.”
He added that “There is nothing in terms of cooperation… What is there? You know, what’s there to cooperate with?”
