Updated Monday.
A publicist accused of pressuring a Georgia election worker to confess to false allegations of committing voting fraud was not âassociatedâ with rap star Kanye West at the time she visited the worker, a representative for West said.
Reuters reported on Friday that the publicist, Trevian Kutti, met on Jan. 4 with Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election worker who had been targeted by then-President Donald Trump and his allies with baseless claims that she processed fraudulent votes to favor Democrat Joe Biden.
Freeman told Reuters that Kutti tried to implicate her in election fraud and warned her that she could be arrested. Kutti also said the election worker faced unspecified âdanger,â according to a police report. She sought to pressure Freeman into confessing in exchange for help, according to Freeman, who said she ended the conversation.
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A number of media reports have cited Kuttiâs association with West since 2018.
Pierre Rougier, a spokesperson for West, said in a statement to Reuters on Sunday: âTrevian Kutti was not associated with Kanye West or any of his enterprises at the times of the facts that are reported in these articles or since these facts occurred.â
Rougier did not answer additional questions from Reuters on whether Kutti worked for West at other times, or whether West and Kutti knew one another. Before publishing Fridayâs story, Reuters sought comment from a different representative for West but did not get a response.
Kutti did not respond to requests for comment made Sunday morning.
In October, the hip-hop artist changed his name from Kanye West to Ye.
A biography of Kutti described her as the founder of Trevian Worldwide, a media and entertainment advisory firm with offices in four cities. The biography, posted on the website of the Womenâs Global Initiative, a business networking group, identified her as a member of âthe Young Black Leadership Council under President Donald Trump.â It noted that, in September 2018, she âwas secured as publicist to Kanye Westâ and ânow serves as Westâs Director of Operations.â
By Saturday, the bios of Kutti and other members of WGIâs team had been removed from the groupâs website. The womenâs initiative did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
Reuters has detailed a campaign of harassment and intimidation and her daughter, Wandrea âShayeâ Moss, also a Fulton County election worker. The women received hundreds of threats and harassing messages after lawyers for Trump claimed in December 2020 that the women had pulled âsuitcasesâ of fraudulent ballots from under a table on election night and fed them into vote tabulators.
The claims were quickly debunked by county and state election officials, who said the âsuitcasesâ were standard ballot containers and the votes were properly counted.
Trump and his allies continued to falsely accuse the women of election fraud, sparking months of threats that they said upended their lives. Some angry Trump supporters visited Freemanâs home. The 62-year-old temporary election worker went into hiding.Â
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The earlier story from Reuters, posted at 3:51 p.m. Friday.
ATLANTAÂ â Weeks after the 2020 election, a Chicago publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West traveled to the suburban home of Ruby Freeman, a frightened Georgia election worker who was facing death threats after being falsely accused by former President Donald Trump of manipulating votes. The publicist knocked on the door and offered to help.
The visitor, Trevian Kutti, gave her name but didnât say she worked for West, a longtime billionaire friend of Trump. She said she was sent by a âhigh-profile individual,â whom she didnât identify, to give Freeman an urgent message: confess to Trumpâs voter-fraud allegations, or people would come to her home in 48 hours, and sheâd go to jail.
Freeman refused. This story of how an associate of a music mogul pressured a 62-year-old temporary election worker at the center of a Trump conspiracy theory is based on previously unreported police recordings and reports, legal filings, and Freemanâs first media interview since she was dragged into Trumpâs attempt to reverse his election loss.
Kutti did not respond to requests for comment. Her biography for her work at the Womenâs Global Initiative, a business networking group, identifies her as a member of âthe Young Black Leadership Council under President Donald Trump.â It notes that in September 2018, she âwas secured as publicist to Kanye Westâ and ânow serves as Westâs Director of Operations.â
When Kutti knocked on Freemanâs door on Jan. 4, Freeman called 911. By then, Freeman said, she was wary of strangers.
Starting on Dec. 3, Trump and his campaign repeatedly accused Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea âShayeâ Moss, of illegally counting phony mail-in ballots after pulling them from mysterious suitcases while working on Election Day at Atlantaâs State Farm Arena. In fact, the âsuitcasesâ were standard ballot containers, and the votes were properly counted, county and state officials quickly confirmed, refuting the fraud claims.
But Trump and his allies continued to accuse Freeman and Moss of election-rigging. The allegations inspired hundreds of threats and harassing messages against them and their family members.
By the time Kutti arrived, Freeman needed help but was cautious and wouldnât open the door because of the threats, according to Freeman and a police report.
So Freeman asked a neighbor to come over and talk with Kutti, who was with an unidentified male. Like Freeman, Kutti and the other visitor were Black. Kutti told the neighbor that Freeman was in danger and that sheâd been sent to provide assistance. Freeman said she was open to meeting them. She asked Cobb County Police to send an officer to keep watch so she could step outside, according to a recording of her 911 call.
âTheyâre saying that I need help,â Freeman told the dispatcher, referring to the people at her door, âthat itâs just a matter of time that they are going to come out for me and my family.â
An officer arrived and spoke with Kutti, who described herself as a âcrisis manager,â according to the police incident report.
Kutti repeated that Freeman âwas in dangerâ and had â48 hoursâ before âunknown subjectsâ turned up at her home, the report said. At the officerâs suggestion, the women agreed to meet at a police station. The officerâs report did not identify the man accompanying Kutti.
âYouâre a loose endâ
Inside the station, Kutti and Freeman met in a corner, according to footage from a body camera worn by an officer present at the meeting. Reuters obtained the video through a public-records request.
âI cannot say what specifically will take place,â Kutti is heard telling Freeman in the recording. âI just know that it will disrupt your freedom,â she said, âand the freedom of one or more of your family members.â
âYou are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up,â Kutti continued. She added that âfederal peopleâ were involved, without offering specifics.
According to Freeman, Kutti told her that she was going to put a man named âHarrison Fordâ on speakerphone. (Freeman said the man on the phone wasnât the actor by the same name.) Kutti said the man had âauthoritative powers to get you protection,â the bodycam footage shows.
At that point, Kutti can be heard asking the officer to give them privacy. The body camera did not capture a clear recording of the conversation that followed after the officer moved away from the two women.
Kutti and the man on the speakerphone, over the next hour, tried to get Freeman to implicate herself in committing voter fraud on Election Day. Kutti offered legal assistance in exchange, Freeman said.
âIf you donât tell everything,â Freeman recalled Kutti saying, âyouâre going to jail.â
Growing suspicious, Freeman said she jumped up from her chair and told Kutti: âThe devil is a liar,â before calling for an officer.
Later at home, Freeman said, she Googled Kuttiâs name and discovered she was a Trump supporter.
Police say they did not investigate the incident further.
West, who changed his name in October to âYe,â did not respond to requests for comment sent through another publicist who represents him.
Reuters could not independently confirm whether Kutti still works for West, or in what capacity.
Media reports have cited her association with the rapper since 2018, when she ceased working with R. Kelly, an R&B singer who was convicted in September of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges. Kuttiâs biography says she is the founder of Trevian Worldwide, a media and entertainment advisory firm with offices in four cities. Among her clients, she says, are boxer Terence Crawford and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan.
The meeting took place two months after West ended a failed bid for the White House that drew media attention when several publications revealed that allies and supporters of Trump were working on the ground to advance Westâs campaign. Some Democrats said they regarded Westâs presidential bid as a ruse to siphon off Black votes from Democrat Joe Biden. Groups assisting the rapperâs campaign denied that charge.
On Jan. 5, the day after Freemanâs meeting with Kutti, an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation called Freeman and urged her to leave her home of 20 years because it wasnât safe, Freeman said.
The following day, Jan. 6, Kuttiâs prediction that people would descend on Freemanâs home in 48 hours proved correct, according to a defamation lawsuit Freeman and Moss filed last week against a far-right news site. Freeman, the lawsuit said, left hours before a mob of angry Trump supporters surrounded her home, shouting through bullhorns.Â