Two people from the Chicago area are among the 19 defendants named in the Georgia indictment accusing former President Donald Trump and others of “criminal enterprise” illegally attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Fulton County prosecutors named Chicago publicist Trevian Kutti, 53, and Orland Park church pastor the Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, 70, in the indictment, charging them for alleged racketeering, influencing witnesses and conspiring to commit false statements.
Kutti, who has worked as a publicist for musicians R. Kelly and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, first made local headlines in 2003 to defend a Gold Coast store’s window display showing rolled-up dollar bills perched alongside mounds of white powder and razor blades — an apparent nod to cocaine use.
In 2009, another storefront got her into the paper, this time in a display featuring a $2,000 gown with a bold “plunge to the rear” at the Old Town boutique she owned. Neighbors complained when a sign next to the dress read, simply, “a–.” At the time, Kutti told the Tribune she was known for her racy window displays and argued the sign wasn’t obscene.
[ From 2009: Talk about a pain in the boutique ]
A state-run database of lobbyists working in Illinois identifies her as an active lobbyist for a cannabis company.
Prosecutors argue Kutti traveled to Fulton County after the election and misled election worker Ruby Freeman “by stating that she needed protection and by purporting to offer her help, with intent to influence her testimony in an official proceeding,” the indictment states.
Freeman and her daughter were facing viral online attacks after Trump accused her of being a “professional vote scammer” and “hustler” who “stuffed the ballot boxes” in a call with Georgia state officials after the election. Testifying before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in June 2022, she and her daughter told lawmakers the accusations upended their lives.
“There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere,” Freeman said in a video. “Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one.”
[ Donald Trump has been indicted in a fourth case. Here’s where all the investigations stand. ]
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In a conversation with Freeman at a police precinct, Kutti presented herself as someone who could help Freeman, but then pressured her to falsely confess to election fraud, prosecutors alleged.
Lee, a pastor at Living Word Lutheran Church, traveled to Freeman’s home in mid-December 2020 and spoke to her neighbor, “with intent to knowingly engage in misleading conduct” toward her by offering her help, the indictment alleges.
The next day, he returned to Freeman’s home and knocked on her door, it continued. Lee also recruited others to attempt to talk with Freeman, the indictment said. Kutti also attempted to contact Freeman at her home, it said.
Lee was not immediately reachable by phone Tuesday. Kutti did not respond to a request for comment sent via email.
However, the publicist did take to social media, where she shared a post calling the indictment a “witch hunt.” She also shared a video skit featuring comedian Dave Chappelle to insinuate she would “plead the fifth” as she stated her support for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The Associated Press contributed.
