Georgia election workers win defamation suit against far-right site Gateway Pundit

Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss scored a legal victory on Thursday when they settled a defamation lawsuit with The Gateway Pundit, the far-right news website that falsely accused them of interfering with ballots in the 2020 presidential election.

The Gateway Pundit was the first site to publicly identify the mother and daughter, who were accused by former President Donald Trump and Rudy Guiliani of ballot fraud on election night in Fulton County, Georgia.

The allegation that the pair had pulled “suitcases” of ballots from under a table, away from poll watchers was debunked almost immediately. But the conspiracy theory continues to circulate among far-right groups and Trump allies who believe the 2020 election was “stolen.”

By Thursday afternoon, nearly 20 articles accusing Freeman and Moss of ballot tampering were removed from The Gateway Pundit, according to a review by the Guardian.

The settlement was filed in circuit court in Missouri, where Freeman and Moss had sued the website for defamation. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the court filing.

Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team.

While the pair was cleared of any wrongdoing years ago, the allegations have continued to negatively impact their lives.

The lawsuit said that the falsehoods “have not only devastated their personal and professional reputations but instigated a deluge of intimidation, harassment, and threats that has forced them to change their phone numbers, delete their online accounts, and fear for their physical safety.”

Freeman and Moss are also still attempting to collect on the nearly $150 million Guiliani owes them, after winning a separate defamation case against him.

During a hearing last year in the Guiliani case, Freeman tearfully described how her life had been impacted by the allegations.

She had to flee her home and live out of her car after strangers came to her door with bullhorns, threatening Freeman and her daughter’s lives. She received messages to her online boutique that threatened her with lynching.

“I took it as though they were going to hang me with their ropes on my street,” Freeman said. “I was scared. I didn’t know if they were coming to kill me.”

The Gateway Pundit’s legal troubles don’t end with Freeman and Moss. The company still faces a libel suit from Eric Coomer, a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems who was falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden.

The site unsuccessfully attempted to delay Moss and Freeman’s case earlier this year by filing for bankruptcy. Despite the bankruptcy filing and multiple lawsuits, the site continues to post hundreds of articles containing false claims about election fraud.

Melissa Cruz is an elections reporting fellow who focuses on voter access issues for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach her at mcruz@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, at @MelissaWrites22.