Two election workers from Georgia, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, have successfully settled their defamation lawsuit against a conservative website based in Missouri, The Gateway Pundit, which had unjustly accused them of election fraud during the 2020 presidential election, as revealed in a recent court document.
The case, which targeted The Gateway Pundit along with its owner Jim Hoft and his brother Joe Hoft, was reportedly resolved amicably, satisfying both parties involved, according to Freeman and Moss’s legal team.
Court filings made in St. Louis City Circuit Court earlier this week did not disclose specific settlement terms, though they indicated actions tied to the agreement are expected to be finalized by March 29. Both sides have requested a judge’s approval to delay further proceedings until the end of March, at which point they anticipate moving to dismiss the case altogether.
As of Friday, it was noted that nearly 70 articles identified as defamatory were no longer accessible on The Gateway Pundit’s website. The company behind the site previously sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but a judge dismissed that case in July, citing the company’s financial stability and stating that the filing was in bad faith to obstruct Freeman and Moss’s lawsuit.
Freeman and Moss, who worked as election officials in Fulton County, initiated their lawsuit in response to The Gateway Pundit’s repeated allegations claiming they had introduced unauthorized ballots while processing votes at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta during November 2020.
The pair also launched legal action against other entities, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and One America News Network, alleging they fueled false narratives propagated by Donald Trump regarding election fraud, which resulted in death threats against them, causing significant fear for their safety.
They are in the process of pursuing a hefty $148 million defamation award they previously secured against Giuliani due to his unfounded claims about ballot fraud. In contrast, One America News Network settled with both Freeman and Moss in 2022. Following this, they issued a statement confirming that state authorities found no evidence of widespread voter fraud by election personnel at the State Farm Arena during the election process.
The notoriety surrounding Freeman and Moss escalated on December 3, 2020, when Jacki Pick, a representative of Trump’s legal team, presented surveillance footage to a Georgia Senate committee. During her presentation, she insinuated that election workers had improperly counted hidden fraudulent ballots after Republican observers were allegedly instructed to leave the counting room.
While Pick did not directly name the workers, she referenced one with “Ruby” visible on her shirt, which led to The Gateway Pundit subsequently publishing Freeman’s full name and later identifying Moss in follow-up articles.
The serious allegation of ballot suitcases being pulled from beneath tables was discredited shortly after its inception. However, The Gateway Pundit and the Hoft brothers continued to promote and publish articles supporting the false narrative even after the claims had been disbanded, according to court documents.
In a recorded phone conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2, Trump controversially pressured him to “find” votes and specifically named Freeman, labeling her as a “vote scammer” and a “professional vote scammer and hustler.”
At the time of the allegations, Freeman was a temporary worker, while Moss had been a part of the Fulton County elections team since 2012, overseeing the absentee ballot process. The claims led to a torrent of harassment for both women, with Freeman facing threatening communications and confrontations at her home. The FBI determined that she was not safe remaining at her residence, prompting her to relocate temporarily and cease her clothing business.
Meanwhile, Moss’s teenage son received a bombardment of threats after individuals discovered her previous phone number through him. The lawsuit notes that harassers even showed up at her grandmother’s residence, attempting to perform a “citizen’s arrest.”
This case highlights the far-reaching implications of unfounded allegations on individuals’ lives, underscoring the growing concerns regarding misinformation in the political sphere.
