Who is Trevian Kutti? Publicist who once worked with Kanye West named as Trump co-defendant in Georgia indictment
Former President Donald Trump and 18 other people have been indicted by a Georgia grand jury on Monday on charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. One of the 18 alleged co-conspirators is Trevian Kutti, a publicist who often posts pro-Trump sentiments on social media and once worked with Kanye West.
Kutti posted about the indictment after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced it late Monday. On Instagram, Kutti shared a screenshot of a TMZ article announcing Kutti, West's former publicist, was indicted. She also posted a pro-Trump meme, which is common on her social media pages.
Kutti and the other co-defendants are accused of trying to influence an election worker's testimony in the election fraud case.
According to the indictment, Kutti was recruited by Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump and a co-defendant in the indictment, to travel from Chicago to Atlanta, where she was tasked with contacting Ruby Freeman, an election worker. Kutti allegedly lied to Freeman's neighbor, saying she was a "crisis manager," there to help Freeman.
Trump falsely accused Freeman of being a "professional vote scammer" and "political operative," according to the indictment. He also made the unsubstantiated claim that Freeman and her daughter wrongfully awarded Joe Biden 18,000 votes while they were working at the polls in Atlanta's State Farm Arena on Election Day.
While Kutti said she was contacting Freeman to offer the election worker protection, Kutti allegedly contacted her in order to influence her testimony about the 2020 presidential election.
During her meeting with Freeman, Kutti allegedly asked her to confess to voter fraud, the false allegation that Trump pushed after losing the presidency to Joe Biden.
Kutti allegedly told Freeman people would come to her home in 48 hours if she didn't confess to the voter fraud claims, according to Reuters. She also allegedly said Freeman would go to jail over it.
After Freeman's accusations about Kutti became public in 2021, Pierre Rougier, a spokesperson for Kanye West, said in a statement to Reuters that Kutti was not associated with the rapper or any of his enterprises at the time of the alleged incident with Freeman. CBS News has reached out to Rougier for further comment.
According to the indictment, alleged co-conspirators Harrison Floyd and Stephen Lee also contacted Freeman several times on Jan. 3, 2021 – the day before Kutti allegedly traveled to Freeman to harass her. The three co-defendants also allegedly contacted each other several times that day. Floyd also allegedly spoke to Freeman by phone while Kutti was with her.
Kutti, Floyd and Lee now face a charge of conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings for allegedly trying to convince Freeman to testify in Trump's favor and falsely admit to election fraud.
CBS News has reached out to Kutti about the charges and is awaiting response.
In December 2021, Kutti posted about her alleged interaction with Freeman several times on Instagram, saying the reports were false and that media outlets were using her past work with West to negatively associate her with Trump. West was famously a Trump supporter who also tried to run for president in 2020.
She claimed on Instagram that she visited Freeman to hear her concerns about the case. She said she met Freeman at a police station, and that an officer's body camera caught their meeting. It is unclear if these statements are accurate.
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- Donald Trump
- Indictment