Two Georgia election workers sue OAN, Giuliani over election fraud claims

Two Georgia election workers are suing One America News Network’s (OAN) parent company, its top officials and former President Trump’s ex-lawyer Rudy Giuliani over election fraud claims touted in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, contending that the parties’ assertions were defamatory.

Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who worked as a voter registration officer in Fulton County, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who was a temp worker during the 2020 election, filed a defamation lawsuit against the defendants on Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., according to Reuters.

The lawsuit names Herring Networks, a media company that owns OAN, Robert Herring, the organization’s chief executive, Charles Herring, the group’s president, and OAN reporter Chanel Rion as defendants. Giuliani is also listed as a defendant.

Moss and Freeman are alleging that OAN aired false stories claiming that the two election workers were plotting to count illicit ballots in an effort to tip the race towards then-candidate Joe Biden, according to Reuters. Those claims, however, have been proven false by Georgia election officials.

The lawsuit focuses on a claim first touted by a volunteer Trump campaign attorney last December, according to Reuters. Supporters of the president cited a surveillance video from a Fulton County ballot-counting center, where Moss and Freeman worked, in which they said the two workers were processing “suitcases” of illicit ballots that were marked for Biden after most individuals had left the premises.

The suit says that Giuliani “amplified the video by posting about it on social media,” and accuses “OAN, its hosts, and its staff” of publishing Giuliani’s claims “to millions of its viewers and readers.”

The plaintiffs are claiming that they were the target of harassment because of the network’s false reporting. According to photos of the complaint posted by Politico, Freeman received threatening messages, harassing phone calls and had strangers knocking on her door.

Moss’s old phone, which her 14-year-old son was using at the time, reportedly received a number of threatening phone calls. According to the lawsuit, the harassing phone calls persisted for months.

She also reportedly received dozens of harassing messages on Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest, a number of which included violent threats. Additionally, in at least two instances strangers reportedly showed up at her grandmother’s house, where she previously lived and tried to complete a citizens’ arrest.

NEW: Two Georgia election workers targeted by conspiracy theories are suing OANN and Rudy Giuliani. They say the false claims led people to show up at their homes, send threatening Christmas cards and harass them relentlessly. One says she had to flee her home for two months. pic.twitter.com/fwc0RG7YG0

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 23, 2021

Herring told Reuters in a brief interview that he was not worried about the legal pursuit, contending that the network did not commit any wrongdoing.

“I know all about it and I’m laughing,” he said, referring to the lawsuit. “I’m laughing about the four or five others who are suing me. Eventually, it will turn on them and go the other way.”

The lawsuit against OAN’s top executives and Giuliani is the second lawsuit Moss and Freeman have filed this month. The duo sued the conservative website Gateway Pundit earlier this month, alleging defamation.

The Hill has reached out to OAN, Herring Networks and Giuliani for comment.