Government

Georgia Poll Workers Get Doxxed By Gateway Pundit, Sue For Defamation

As ye sow, etc.

By  
on

Two Georgia poll workers who found themselves at the center of a fake news maelstrom last year have sued notorious rightwing website Gateway Pundit and its founder James Hoft for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Despite a layout that will make your eyes bleed and more popup ads than a dial-up era porn portal, Gateway Pundit is one of the most popular sites on the internet, delivering short posts full of uncorroborated wingnuttery and random capitalization to millions of people every year. Hoft was permanently booted off Twitter in February 2021 for posting false information about the election, including one story in which he accused Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s nonexistent brother “Ron” of working for a Chinese company. And the site was recently demonetized by Google AdSense for persistently flogging COVID misinformation.

Hoft, along with his twin brother Joseph, who is also a defendant in the case, authored numerous articles accusing Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a longtime Georgia election worker, and her mother Ruby Freeman, who was temporarily helping out, of illegally counting a “suitcase” of fraudulent ballots to swing the state for Joe Biden. The story caught fire in MAGA world after a Trump campaign staffer played a heavily edited video at at State Senate hearing which appeared to show Freeman pulling a batch of ballots out from under a table in an empty room and running it through the tabulator. Trump even referred to Freeman by name 18 times in his infamous phone call with Raffensperger demanding that he “find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”

The allegation was immediately debunked, with multiple state officials explaining that counting was halted and the room was evacuated at 10pm after a urinal overflowed, but having discovered the source of the water, they simply mopped it up and resumed counting at 11pm in accordance with an edict by the Secretary of State. No one ordered the poll watchers to leave, they had simply assumed that it was all over for the day and gone home. And indeed, there was no law mandating that election officials hold the count for an audience.

Nevertheless, Gateway Pundit ran multiple stories alleging that the video proved the poll workers had committed election fraud, and it was the first to doxx the plaintiffs — a fact it repeatedly boasted of in its coverage.

From December 3:

Her name is Ruby Freeman.

And she made the mistake of advertising her purse on her desk the same night she was involved in voter fraud on a MASSIVE SCALE.

Her T-shirt says “Lady Ruby” and her purse says, “LaRuby” which is her company.

This was not a very smart move.

Her company is called “LaRuby’s Unique Treasures.”

It’s on her LinkedIn page!

Sponsored

In a December 4 article entitled “BREAKING: CROOKED GEORGIA ELECTIONS SUPERVISER [sic] Filmed Pulling Out Suitcases of Ballots from Beneath Table IS IDENTIFIED — IT’S RUBY’S DAUGHTER! (Video),” Hoft accused Freeman of being “involved in voter fraud on a MASSIVE SCALE” and identified Moss “removing suitcases of ballots from under a table after GOP observers were evacuated from the room and told to go home.”

As the complaint notes, the Hofts were perfectly well aware of the harassment that would befall these women after being publicly accused of election fraud, and their only concern was that the howler monkeys hit the right target.

“Note: Please do not confuse this with a similar business in Snellville!” they cautioned readers.

And hit it they did. As Reuters reports in a long article reflecting allegations repeated in the complaint, Moss and Freeman suffered months of persistent harassment which forced them out of their homes in fear for their lives. On multiple occasions, people surrounded their houses and tried to force their way in to stage a “citizens arrest.” They received hundreds of harassing calls and emails, often hurling racist abuse at them, with one caller telling Moss’s then fourteen-year-old son that he “should hang alongside [his] n—-r momma.”

Freeman and Moss are suing in state court in Missouri, where Gateway Pundit is headquartered, seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Sponsored

Naturally the Hoft brothers have taken advantage of the opportunity for grift to set up a fundraiser on the alt right’s favorite crowdfunding site GiveSendGo. As of this publication, they’d raised $100,000 far surpassing their $75,000 goal.

The world is a weird and horrifying place.

Freeman v. Hoft

Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

Topics

, ,