Georgia Election Workers Score Massive Win Against MAGA Website
Two Georgia election workers falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election have settled a defamation lawsuit with the far-right conspiracy website The Gateway Pundit.
After the 2020 presidential election, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were accused of committing election fraud and counting illegal ballots in a series of stories published to the website. The pair then sued the website for defamation, and The Guardian reported that the final settlement was filed on Thursday in circuit court in Missouri.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Freeman and Moss successfully sued Trump’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for libel last year and won a judgment of $150 million.
The Gateway Pundit, along with Giuliani, repeatedly attacked Freeman and Moss even after the lies about them were debunked and the pair were found to have just been doing their jobs. The election-rigging conspiracy quickly spread among the right wing, with the likes of Sean Hannity and even Trump repeating them.
Jim Hoft, who founded The Gateway Pundit, refused to back down about the false claims, and his brother Joe, a contributor to the website, repeated the lies again at the Republican National Convention in August.
The lies led to death threats and harassment against the mother and daughter, and the two were forced to go into hiding after right-wing fanatics showed up at Freeman’s home. Moss’s son even received threats on his phone, and Freeman testified last year that she had nowhere to live.
“I was terrorized,” Freeman said during the trial against Giuliani last year. “I’d rather stay in my car and be homeless rather than put that on someone else.”
In that trial, Giuliani’s lawyer accused The Gateway Pundit of providing the basis for the false claims against Freeman and Moss. The pair also settled a lawsuit against the right-wing One America News last year, which issued an on-air apology afterward.
Thanks to Giuliani’s failed attempt to file for bankruptcy, Freeman and Moss could soon gain control over his assets. Hopefully, their victories will dissuade more right-wing personalities and organizations from throwing around false claims about next month’s election, but alas, the right isn’t exactly known for its introspection.