Editor of pro-Trump outlet admits 'there was no widespread voter fraud' in 2020 election

The editor of the website that first singled out two Georgia election workers and baselessly accused them of manipulating ballots in the 2020 election has now admitted the entire story was false.

The Guardian reports that Jim Hoft – founder of far-right website Gateway Pundit — posted a mea culpa to his site in which he admitted that there was no truth to his claim that Fulton County, Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss did anything illegal in the election. This is despite Gateway Pundit first amplifying the claim, which eventually was picked up by former President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

“Georgia officials concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud by election workers who counted ballots at the State Farm Arena in November 2020,” the site’s co-founder, Jim Hoft, said in a statement posted on Gateway Pundit on Saturday. “The results of this investigation indicate that Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct while working at State Farm Arena on election night. A legal matter with this news organization and the two election workers has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties through a fair and reasonable settlement.”

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Both Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani and Gateway Pundit for defamation over their false claims about supposed election fraud. The Associated Press recently reported that 70 Gateway Pundit articles cited as defamatory in Freeman and Moss' suit were scrubbed from the site after the news of their confidential settlement was announced.

The suit against Hoft's website alleged that Gateway Pundit's lies about the two women "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." Hoft tried previously to file for bankruptcy to get out of paying damages, but his petition was dismissed by a judge in July, who ruled that the company was financially solvent.

The two former election workers are still attempting to collect on the $148 million defamation judgment they won against Giuliani last December. A judge ruled that the plaintiffs are able to seize Giuliani's assets to pay the judgment, which include a vintage car, a Manhattan apartment, a Florida condominium, multiple New York Yankees World Series championship rings and several luxury watches.

Giuliani's son is now claiming ownership of the rings, which he said were gifted to him in 2018, with the stipulation that his father would hold onto one of the rings to occasionally wear in public. Like Hoft, Giuliani also tried to avoid paying Freeman and Moss by filing for bankruptcy, but bankruptcy judge Sean Lane revoked his bankruptcy protections in July, allowing the plaintiffs the ability to levy any and all assets to satisfy the judgment.

READ MORE: Defamation suit from GA election workers drives popular far-right website into bankruptcy

Both plaintiffs have also sued far-right broadcaster One America News Network, which settled with Freeman and Moss in 2022 for an undisclosed sum. After the settlement was announced, the network officially retracted its claim that Freeman and Moss acted illegally during the counting of Fulton County ballots in 2020.

Hoft's troubles don't end with Freeman and Moss. Gateway Pundit is still battling a defamation lawsuit filed by former Dominion Voting Systems employee Eric Coomer, who was falsely accused of manipulating election results in battleground states.

Click here to read the Guardian's report in full.

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