Among the 19 people charged in a sweeping RICO indictment in Georgia following a special investigation into potential 2020 election interference in the state are Trevian Kutti, the former publicist for R. Kelly and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and former leader of the Black Voices of Trump group Willie Lewis Floyd III.
A grand jury returned a nearly 100-page indictment on Monday, alleging that former president Donald Trump and several of his associates and supporters made concerted efforts to altogether overturn his defeat in the state in 2020, hence the racketeering charges.
State prosecutors detailed numerous actions that Trump and his allies carried out to reverse his loss, including attempts to intimidate election workers, promote false election fraud claims, goad state lawmakers into establishing a fake slate of electoral college electors that favored Trump, and one bold attempt to access voting machines in Coffee County to steal data.
“The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis said following the indictment’s release.
Every one of the 19 people named as defendants were charged with violating the Georgia RICO Act, including Kutti and Floyd, who is also known as Harrison Floyd.
Both were also charged with conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings and influencing witnesses. They went to some lengths to intimidate election worker Ruby Freeman and pressure her into falsely admitting that she stole votes and committed election fraud.
According to the indictment, Floyd allegedly recruited another indicted individual named Stephen Lee to arrange a meeting with Freeman.
On the day of the meeting, Freeman met Kutti at a police precinct, and Kutti told Freeman that she could arrange special protections for Freeman to safeguard her from an “armed squad” of federal agents who would approach her and her family.
Kutti then touted her association with “high-profile people” and called Floyd, whom she described as a “Black progressive crisis manager, very high level, with authoritative powers to get you protection that you need.”
Kutti and Floyd then allegedly tried to entice Freeman into revealing some incriminating but bogus information under threat of imprisonment.
A court filing from last year also notes an incident in which Lee went to Freeman’s home and allegedly knocked on her door, which frightened her and prompted her to call the police three times.
Video below shows the meeting between Kutti and Freeman:
The indictment states that Kutti, Floyd, and Lee “unlawfully conspired to solicit, request and importune Ruby Freeman to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense of false statements and writings… by knowingly and willfully making false statement and representation concerning events at State Farm Arena in the November 3, 2020 presidential election in Georgia.”
Both Kutti and Floyd, along with the other 17 people charged, including Trump, have until Aug. 25 to voluntarily surrender themselves to Georgia authorities. Willis plans to try all 19 defendants together simultaneously.
Other defendants of note include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and a Trump administration-era Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. Several lawyers who sided with Trump during the election are named in the indictment as well. Other offenses mentioned in the indictment are violating the oath of a public officer, forgery and false statements.
This is the fourth indictment against Trump this year. He has been previously charged in connection to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, mishandling classified documents and a federal election interference indictment that details his alleged incitement of the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection.
