Employees of the far-right website Gateway Pundit, which has played a key role in spreading lies about the 2020 election, were worried contributors were not credible and expressed concerns about plagiarism, a court filing last month revealed.
Lawyers for Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers suing the site for defamation, made the disclosure in a 16 April court filing seeking a court order forcing the website to turn over more internal documents. They said they had obtained text messages from Gateway Pundit’s director of operations and associate editor “expressing concerns that a contributor engaged in plagiarism and made claims without any sources”.
“Documents produced by third parties but not by Defendants show that TGP’s staff had major concerns as to the professionalism, reliability, and honesty of several contributors, including Jordan Conradson, who wrote some of the defamatory Articles,” the lawyers wrote in the filing in circuit court in St Louis, Missouri.
Conradson, 22, is a Gateway Pundit writer who rose to prominence covering the widely criticized “audit” of Maricopa county’s 2020 election results and frequently posts stories with false information about elections. He wrote two 2021 stories for Gateway Pundit cited in the lawsuit containing language that falsely accused Freeman and Moss of fraud.
Gateway Pundit has denied publishing libelous statements about Freeman and Moss. Conradson did not respond to a request for comment. Marc Randazza, a lawyer representing Gateway Pundit in the lawsuit, did not comment on the filing but said he trusted Conradson’s reporting.
“We have the utmost confidence in Mr Conradson, always have and continue to do so. I personally know Mr Conradson, and know him to be an ethical, intelligent and fearless reporter who strives to produce quality work,” Randazza said. “I would place his ethics far above those of most journalists that write for larger and more compliant news organizations.”
The Guardian was not able to review the content of the messages beyond what was included in the public filing. The document contains significant redactions and does not name all of the contributors who concerned staff.
The filing offers a glimpse into the kind of evidence lawyers for Freeman and Moss had been amassing in the defamation case against Gateway Pundit. It came a little more than a week before Gateway Pundit declared bankruptcy in Florida, a legal maneuver that will significantly delay the case and could prevent similar evidence from coming to light into whether Gateway Pundit writers knew that what they were saying was false. The parties were scheduled to complete fact discovery – exchanging internal messages and other relevant information – by 31 May.
“Plaintiffs have been attempting to schedule depositions of the defendants for months. On the same day TGP filed for bankruptcy, we had just given notice for the depositions of [Gateway Pundit co-founders] Jim and Joe Hoft to be taken in May,” said Brittany Williams, a lawyer for the non-profit group Protect Democracy, which is representing Freeman and Moss.
Attorneys for Freeman and Moss also said in their filing that John Burns, a lawyer for Gateway Pundit, had warned the site about relying on Kevin Moncla, a source in Georgia who fed the site information on Freeman and Moss, including their non-public personnel files, according to the filing. “Moncla is a known fabricator. I wouldn’t touch/publish anything he produces,” Burns reportedly wrote, calling him “a goddamned fraud”.
Freeman and Moss’s attorneys also said they had a message in which Moncla said, “I will help you nail these bitches,” referring to Moss and Freeman. Amid Burns’s concerns, David Cross, another source, vouched for Moncla, the lawyers said in their filing.
“Mr. Burns is entitled to his opinion, as I am entitled to mine. I would challenge the son of a bitch to provide any support for such statements – in the multiple articles I have ghost-written for his client, The Gateway Pundit, or otherwise,” Moncla said in an email. “I stand behind my work and my statements as I invest the time to do the work and research and take very seriously what I publish.” Moncla also provided a screenshot of a 2022 public records request he had submitted to Fulton county requesting the employment and payroll records for Freeman and Moss.
Cross, a vice-chair in the Georgia Republican party, did not return a request for comment. Both he and Moncla are connected to the Election Oversight Group, an organization that has made false claims of election fraud in Georgia and Texas. When an investigator looked into Cross’s claims of ballot harvesting in Georgia and dismissed them, Cross questioned whether the investigator had looked hard enough. In 2022, Moncla claimed to have evidence that poll books had been adding votes in Dallas and tried to stop certification of the election.
In 2006, Moncla was ordered to pay $3.25m on a voyeurism charge after filming guests at his home while they were in the bathroom.
Gateway Pundit served as a key source of false information about the 2020 election and targeted Freeman and Moss extensively. Both women have spoken about the vicious harassment they faced after they were falsely accused of criminal conduct. Georgia election officials quickly debunked the claims against them, and a state investigation has formally cleared them of any wrongdoing.
“The lies about Ms Freeman and Ms Moss 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,” lawyers wrote in the original complaint in the lawsuit, filed in 2021. “The Gateway Pundit’s stock in trade is spreading disinformation, including lies about the integrity of the 2020 election.”
The two women say the outlet continued to defame them even after the filing of the lawsuit. Lawyers for the two women have also accused Gateway Pundit of withholding key information in the case.
Freeman and Moss also sued the One America News Network (OANN), Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani for defaming them. OANN settled the case and apologized on air to the two women. Giuliani was ordered to pay $148.1m in damages to them, but has declared bankruptcy to avoid payment.
