In the flurry of news stories about former President Donald Trumpâs fourth indictment, you might have overlooked one unusual detail: Among the people indicted alongside Trump in Georgia is a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Church pastor from Illinois.
Reported Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service: âThe indictment singles out the Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, a pastor within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod denomination, alleging he and 18 others âunlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere.â Among the specific charges levied against Lee: attempting to influence witnesses and conspiring to solicit false statements and writings.â
How on earth did a pastor who doesnât even live in Georgia get caught up in this mess? As Jenkins reports, Leeâs involvement was apparently sparked by one of Trumpâs more bizarre post-election claims: that Wandrea âShayeâ Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, election workers in Fulton County, had stuffed ballots in a suitcase in an effort to deny Trump votes.
The charge was nonsense, of course â and it led to both women receiving death threats.
Strangers began showing up at their homes. Among them, the indictment asserts, was Lee. The indictment reports that after Lee knocked on Freemanâs door, she called the police. An officerâs body cam video shows him approaching Lee in his car. Lee tells the officer, âIâm a pastor, and Iâm also working with some folks who are trying to help Ruby out â and also get to some truth of whatâs going on.â
(Freeman was so terrorized by incidents like this that she went into hiding.)
The indictment asserts that Leeâs actions were part of an effort to âinfluence [Freemanâs] testimony in an official proceeding in Fulton County, Georgia, concerning ⊠the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Georgia.â
Lee is among several people who are accused of harassing and intimidating Freeman. Others involved were Willie Lewis Floyd III, head of a Black pro-Trump group, and Trevian Kutti, the publicist for the rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West). At one point, Kutti told Freeman she could go to prison unless she admitted her involvement in election fraud. But there was no election fraud, and Freeman stood firm. Sheâs one of the few heroes in this tragic tale.
Americans United has repeatedly warned religious leaders about the dangers of diving into partisan politics. Not only is it illegal in some contexts, but it also threatens to destroy a clericâs integrity and independence.
Leeâs story ought to serve as a cautionary tale: A religious leader can tie himself so tightly to a candidate that their fates become intertwined. Thatâs what happened to Lee by becoming so enamored with Trump â and now both men may be headed for a serious fall.
Photo: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis discusses the indictment against Donald Trump and co-conspirators. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
