Kanye West.Photo: David Livingston/Getty
In surveillance video Trump posted one month after election day, two women — Freeman and her daughter — can be seen counting ballots (legally, and as instructed, as a state investigation would eventually find).
As they described toReuters, Freeman (who had beenhired as a temporary ballot-countermaking $16 per hour) and her daughter (who was a clerical worker with a salary of $36,000) dealt with numerous death threats and racist taunts once Trump publicly named them. Once their phone numbers began circulating on the internet, the threats grew even more serious, and more violent.
As Freeman explains, there was even more to the story, beyond the Trump campaign — and it involved a publicist for West named Trevian Kutti.
Kutti’s visit came on Jan. 4, Freeman claims, a time when the threats against her were rampant. When she saw Kutti (who she claims was with an unidentified man) outside her door, Reuters notes that Freeman initially called 911 and asked a neighbor to come over and speak with the unannounced visitors.
That’s when, Freeman claims, Kutti said that Freeman was in danger – and she had been sent to help.
Fearful due to the many threats against her, Freeman called the police.
The police eventually arrived and spoke with Kutti, who a police report says described herself as a “crisis manager” and reiterated the claim that Freeman was in danger.
The outlet reports Kutti then began pressuring Freeman to “tell everything,” or “you’re going to jail.”
Freeman says she did not comply, later googling Kutti’s name to discover she was a Trump supporter.
Reuters notes that Kutti’s biography for her role at the Women’s Global Initiative describes her as “West’s Director of Operations” and a member of “the Young Black Leadership Council under President Donald Trump.”
West — who launched his own failed bid for the presidency in 2020 — has been open about his support of Trump.
Kanye West (left), Donald Trump.Ron Sachs/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty
The two famouslymet at the White House in October 2018to discuss tax cuts, prison reform, mental health and racism.
Then, in a series of tweets in April 2018, West called the formerCelebrity Apprenticehost “my brother,” writing, “You don’t have to agree with Trump but the mob can’t make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.”
A spokesperson for West, who has since legally changed his name to “Ye,” did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment concerning Kutti’s role at the time of the alleged incident with Freeman, or whether she still works for the rapper and fashion designer. Kutti — who also did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment — describes herself as a “political sharp shooter” and “media manipulator” on her Instagram bio.
Freeman and her daughter, meanwhile,have filed suitagainst right-wing website The Gateway Pundit over the false claims of election fraud, which they say “instigated a deluge of intimidation, harassment, and threats that has forced them to change their phone numbers, delete their online accounts, and fear for their physical safety.”
source: people.com
