A co-defendant in the Georgia election fraud case against former President Donald Trump could see her $75,000 bond revoked after prosecutors allege she potentially threatened a high-profile witness on social media.
Trevian Kutti, who is a former publicist for Kanye West, was indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in August alongside 18 co-defendants, including Trump, under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law for allegedly interfering in the state’s 2020 election.
Following the sprawling RICO indictment, Kutti and the other defendants were quickly released on bond, but no more than three months later, the lobbyist from Nebraska is in hot water again, this time for comments she made in recent days on Instagram Live, which may have violated her bond agreement.
The video that sparked the latest firestorm involving Kutti, recorded on Nov. 28, gained broader attention following an investigation by the liberal media watchdog, Medias Touch.
“Everybody’s alive. There’s no murder weapon. As a matter of fact, there’s a woman sitting somewhere who knows this whole thing is a lie,” Kutti says in the footage, according to the report. “Who knows I never did anything to her. Who knows I never. Who knows she begged me for help. There’s a woman sitting somewhere who knows that I’m going to f—k her whole life up when this is done.”
During the live broadcast, Kutti reportedly offered to answer questions from the audience but became irritated when one respondent cited the overwhelming evidence in the indictment.
“Let me just tell you right now, you can’t kill Trump when his entire base is a militia. You can’t do it,” Kutti says before launching into a tirade to defend her earlier statement.
“I want to respect Black people and Black men, but when you come over here, and you act crazy, and you talk crazy to me, you’re going to be, you’ll be outdone. OK? You’ll be outdone,” she says in the video.
In court papers, Fulton County prosecutors claim Kutti intended the message as a threat against Freeman, suggesting that Kutti could be holding a grudge over the serious federal charges she faces.
On the video, Kutti sought to dismiss the threat claims against her, suggesting that police were already aware of a video recording of a conversation she had with Freeman, however, it was unclear if Kutti was referring to police body-camera footage taken in Atlanta in January 2021 that was now central to the fraud case against her.
Legal experts who have been closely monitoring the criminal case said Kutti’s comments could hurt her chances to remain free before the 2024 trial, while some even felt she could face a superseding indictment due to the bold remarks.
“This is not even a close call,” said Janai Nelson, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in a post on the social media platform X. “This whole rant by Trevian Kutti is a case study in witness intimidation and obstruction. All prosecutors in these election subversion cases must give no quarter when it comes to these antics and fully and swiftly enforce the law and the bond terms.”
Georgia State University law Professor Anthony Michael Kreis also took to X, describing Kutti’s comments as “straight-up witness intimidation that violates the conditions of her consent bond.”
In a similar matter in November, Judge Scott McAfee stopped short of revoking the bond of Harrison Floyd, another defendant in the Trump-related case who prosecutors accused of intimidating witnesses in his social media posts while free on bond.
On X, Kreis noted that Floyd’s conduct, “though plainly stupid,” paled in comparison to the severity of comments Kutti is accused of making.
“It’ll be the state’s burden to demonstrate to the court the meaning of Trevian Kutti’s statement and that it was a violation of the terms of her bond and the public interest favors remand if the state so moves,” Kreis said. “I don’t think they’ll have a hard time with that showing here.”
Back in August, Kutti was charged with trying to strongarm Georgia poll worker Ruby Freeman — a central figure who faced false allegations in the 2020 election — in an attempt to force her to confess to bogus fraud charges that arose among right-wing Republicans due to Trump’s false claims of vote rigging in the state.
She pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings and influencing witnesses.
On Jan. 4, 2021, in the weeks after Trump lost the election and before Biden took office, Kutti traveled from Chicago to Atlanta, where prosecutors claim she knocked on Freeman’s front door and threatened to publicly ruin the 62-year-old volunteer unless she admitted to manipulating votes in favor of Democrat Joe Biden, who had rightfully won the race.
Freeman refused to comply before she called police, and Kutti was taken into custody the same night.
Later, Freeman was allowed to meet with Kutti at the police station, and their conversation was subsequently picked up on an officer’s body camera.
“I cannot say what specifically will take place,” Kutti is heard telling Freeman in the police station recording, according to Newsweek. “I just know that it will disrupt your freedom,” she said, “and the freedom of one or more of your family members.”
At the time, the Trump campaign persisted in asserting that Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, had unlawfully tallied a batch of bogus mail-in ballots on Election Day.
Trump officials, including his then-personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, claimed Freeman and Moss had concealed the ballots in suitcases and brought them into the vote-tabulation site at State Farm Arena, where they were stationed as 2020 volunteers.
Trump and the other co-defendants face a litany of charges, including multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud the state, forgery, criminal attempt to file false documents, and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Four of the defendants have since pleaded guilty in exchange for their cooperation, including Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall, who agreed to testify against their one-time cohorts, including Trump.
Kutti stirred controversy in October when she proclaimed on Instagram that she was prepared to serve as Trump’s White House press secretary if he wins a second, but split, term in 2024, calling herself “protected.”
