OAN Launched After Settlement in Georgia Marketing campaign Employees’ Lawsuit – WABE

A judge has dismissed conservative cable news network One America News Network from a defamation lawsuit filed by two Georgia poll workers after the two sides reached a settlement.

Fulton County poll workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss in December sued OAN, its owners and its chief White House correspondent over disproving allegations that the mother-daughter couple brought in suitcases containing illegal ballots while serving as poll counters in the state Farm Arena was operating in Atlanta in November 2020 and committed other acts of fraud to change the outcome of the Georgia presidential election.

The terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed, but both sides called them fair.

Freeman and Moss filed a motion to dismiss OAN from the lawsuit Wednesday, and U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell signed the dismissal Thursday.

The two women had also sued former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, saying he had reinforced lies about them during frequent appearances on OAN. Their claims against Giuliani continue: They filed an amended complaint in federal court in Washington on Wednesday.

OAN tweeted a clip from its broadcast Monday with an anchor describing an “updated report from Georgia officials.” A voiceover then says state officials “concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud by poll workers counting ballots at the State Farm Arena in November 2020.” The results of this investigation show that Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss did not engage in voter fraud or criminal misconduct while working at the State Farm Arena on election night.” The clip goes on to mention the settlement between the network and the two women.

In fact, in late 2020, shortly after the allegations against the two women surfaced, Georgian officials concluded that the couple had done nothing wrong.

Moss and Freeman also filed a separate defamation lawsuit against The Gateway Pandit, its owner Jim Hoft, and his brother Joe Hoft, a contributor to the conservative site. This lawsuit is pending in federal court in Missouri.

After narrowly losing the Georgia presidential election, Trump made unsubstantiated claims that widespread fraud led to his loss in the state. He specifically focused on Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that includes most of Atlanta.

Moss has worked for the Fulton County Department of Elections since 2012, overseeing absentee voting during the 2020 election. Freeman, her mother, was a temporary poll clerk, verifying signatures on absentee ballots and preparing them for counting and processing.

As their names circulated online along with allegations of fraud, the two women said they faced intense harassment both in person and online.