Ben Gray/Associated Press
- Mother and daughter election workers in Georgia are suing The Gateway Pundit for defamation.
- The lawsuit says the right-wing outlet engaged in a "campaign of lies" that resulted in harassment.
- Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were targeted by former President Donald Trump and his allies.
A mother and daughter from Georgia who worked for Fulton County on the 2020 election are suing a right-wing media outlet for defamation after it falsely claimed they participated in election fraud.
The lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis, Missouri, on Thursday on behalf of Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, against The Gateway Pundit and its publishers, twin brothers James and Joseph Hoft.
"I couldn't have imagined the lies that The Gateway Pundit would tell about me, pushing people to harass me and my family and to threaten us with violence," Freeman said in a statement provided to Insider. "I want the defendants to know that my daughter and I are real people who deserve justice, and I never want them to do this to anyone else."
The lawsuit says The Gateway Pundit engaged in a "campaign of lies" that "devastated their personal and professional reputations" and "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."
The Gateway Pundit wrote stories falsely accusing Moss, who works for the Fulton County elections board, and Freeman, who served as a temporary election worker, of election fraud. The false claims included that they wrongfully counted secret suitcases full of ballots.
Georgia election officials conducted an investigation into the claims against the women, including the "secret suitcase with magic ballots," and found no wrongdoing had occurred and all votes were legally counted.
Former President Donald Trump even mentioned Freeman to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, during an infamous call in which he tried to influence the results of the state's election.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's lawyer at the time, also targeted Freeman and Moss, comparing them to drug dealers, NPR reported.
The harassment Freeman and Moss said they received after the false claims about them spread was detailed in a Reuters report published Wednesday. According to the report, both women received death threats and were subject to racist attacks.
In a statement provided to Insider, Moss said a person even showed up at her family member's home looking for her in order to do a "citizen's arrest."
"People need to know that telling lies about my mom and me is not news and it's not entertainment. There are actual people who get hurt," Moss said. "So I'm filing this lawsuit to clear my name — because the truth still matters."
The Gateway Pundit did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, but acknowledged the lawsuit in a post published Thursday by Jim Hoft, which called for donations to "help The Gateway Pundit defend ourselves."
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages.
Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/3xMJJE0
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