Chicago publicist, Orland Park pastor surrender in Trump election meddling case in Georgia
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two people with Chicago ties surrendered to authorities in Georgia on Friday, charged in the election fraud case filed against former President Donald Trump.
Rev. Stephen Lee, a pastor from Orland Park, and Trevian Kutti, a former publicist, both were booked into the Fulton County Jail on Friday, and later released on bail.
All of the 19 defendants in the case, including Trump, have now turned themselves in to authorities in Fulton County. Trump surrendered on Thursday, when he was booked at the Fulton County Jail, and had his historic mugshot taken.
Lee, a pastor from Orland Park, is charged with five counts that involve the attempts to influence election worker Ruby Freeman. She was falsely accused by Trump for election fraud.
The indictment says Lee went to Freeman's home on consecutive days in mid-December 2020 and eventually asked Harrison Floyd, leader of Black Voices for Trump, for help with speaking to Freeman.
The charging document claims Lee told Floyd that the former election worker was "afraid" to speak with him "because he was a white man." A request to him for comment was not immediately returned. Lee's bond was set for $75,000, and he was the last of the 19 defendants to surrender to authorities by Friday's deadline.
Lee's attorney said the only thing his client is guilty of is knocking on a few doors and making some phone calls.
"You have a pastor being indicted for knocking on a door," attorney David Shestokas said. "For them to try and tie him to this criminal enterprise is just an incredible, incredible stretch."
Lee was back home Friday night, after a fundraiser helped him pay his bond.
An online fundraiser, started by the Illinois Family Institute, helped raise the $7,500 he needed to post bail.
"When he went to bed last night, and woke up this morning, he didn't think he was coming home," Shestokas said.
Shestokas said "there will not be any kind of plea" from his client . CBS 2's Charlie De Mar asked what they would do if he is approached to cooperate with federal investigators.
"You know the interesting thing about this? He has nothing to offer. He doesn't know these people. He doesn't know President Trump," he said.
Lee preaches from at Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park, and plans to be back at the pulpit on Sunday.
Kutti used to be a publicist for celebrities like Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and R. Kelly. She even owned a high-end boutique on Oak Street. Kutti is charged with three counts, two of which relate to a plan to pressure Ruby Freeman, a former election worker in Fulton County. She agreed to a $75,000 bond.
Kutti is seen on a police body camera video sitting down to meet with Freeman, an election worker in Georgia, falsely accused by former president Donald Trump of committing election fraud in 2020. Kutti traveled from Chicago in 2021 and showed up unannounced at Freeman's door in Georgia, where "she attempted to pressure Freeman into falsely confessing to participation in election fraud."
"You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up," Kutti said on the video.
The former poll worker agreed to talk with Kutti at a police station where Kutti claimed that Freeman's safety was in jeopardy.
"We have 48 hours in which to move you. I cannot say what specifically will take place. I just know that it will disrupt your freedom and (inaudible) the freedom of one or more of your family members," Kutti said.
The filing claims Willie Lewis Floyd, another co-defendant, joined the meeting by telephone, and he and Kutti told Freeman "she needed protection and purported to offer her help." She, along with Lee and Floyd, allegedly aimed to influence Freeman's testimony in an official proceeding in Fulton County about the events at Atlanta's State Farm Arena on Election Day.
All but one of the 19 who turned themselves in reached bond agreements with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis before they were booked. None have entered pleas yet, since the arraignment process is separate from the booking process in Georgia.
Harrison Floyd, one of the co-defendants, was denied bond by a judge in a Friday hearing. Floyd is the former director of Black Voices for Trump.
A Fulton County grand jury returned a 41-count indictment last week accusing Trump and the 18 others of participating in a "criminal enterprise" that aimed to reverse the former president's 2020 electoral loss in Georgia.
