Workers at far-right site Gateway Pundit feared credibility issues, filing shows

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