Gateway Pundit warned by its own lawyer it was using ‘a damned fraud’ as a source: report
A new filing in a defamation lawsuit filed by Georgia poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss against the conspiracy theory website Gateway Pundit reveals that workers at the site feared for their credibility, reported The Guardian — and their own attorney warned them that the source for their claims was not to be trusted.
The site's founder, Jim Hoft, has earned the nickname "The Dumbest Man on the Internet" for years of strange and sloppy claims. Despite this, former President Donald Trump has been reported to be an avid reader of the site.
"Attorneys for Freeman and Moss ... 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," said the report.
"'Moncla is a known fabricator. I wouldn’t touch/publish anything he produces,” Burns reportedly wrote, while also calling Moncla “a g-------d fraud."
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As if that weren't enough, Freeman and Moss’s attorneys also unearthed messages from Moncla said in which he said of their clients, "I will help you nail these b----s."
According to the report, Moncla was charged with voyeurism and ordered to pay $3.25 million after filming guests in the bathroom at his house.
Earlier this week, Gateway Pundit filed for bankruptcy amid the litigation against them.
Moss and Freeman, who counted ballots in Atlanta in 2020, have become a focus of numerous MAGA conspiracy theories, spread in part by Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani, who claimed that they were stuffing ballots — based in part on a supposed "flash drive" one passed to the other that turned out to be a ginger mint. Giuliani was found liable for $148 million in a defamation default judgment for his role in these claims.
In addition to the defamation cases, efforts to harass the two workers form part of the election racketeering case against Trump's allies in Fulton County.
‘Worrisome’: Ex-staffer warns new Trump administration would be stripped of key restraint
Donald Trump's second administration will find itself unable to rely on a key restraint that prevented the former president from pursuing bad federal policy during his first term, a one-time staffer warned Wednesday.
Former Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews appeared on CNN to share her fears that Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, will surround himself with easily swayed staffers should he regain the White House in 2025.
"It's going to be a bunch of yes men and women who will do and say what he pleases," Matthews warned. "It's extremely worrisome because I think that competency and experience are gonna be out the window."
Matthews issued this warning on the heels of a Time Magazine exposé detailing the actions Trump hopes to take as commander in chief, among them prosecuting President Joe Biden, mass deportations and government pregnancy monitoring.
The former press secretary suggested the threat Trump presents would not be evaded should he lose the presidential election on Nov. 5.
"We know with Donald Trump that an election is only fair if he wins," Matthews said. "It almost sounded like a threat of political violence if he loses."
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Matthews then argued future "yes" staffers will not be able to rely on a key tactic Trump's former White House team successfully used to dissuade him from pursuing bad policy: raising the specter of reelection.
The argument will be rendered moot by presidential term limits, she explained.
"If he is elected president again, that won't be a concern," Matthews said. "You're not really going to be able to steer him off of some of these bad policies."
Finally, Matthews expressed her outrage that Trump has suggested pardons for people convicted on criminal charges related to the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
"He calls them hostages and patriots," Matthews said. "It's really just disgusting to me."
