Jason Szep and Peter Eisler

(Reuters) – The story had a bombshell headline: “Thousands of fake votes” had been discovered in Madison, Wisconsin, two weeks after Democrat Joe Biden narrowly beat then-President Donald Trump in the state.

The bogus report from the far-right website Gateway Pundit drew attention to a set of initials – MLW – inscribed on what it claimed were “fake” ballots. A reader commented on the story and correctly identified MLW as Maribeth L. Witzelbehl, Madison’s clerk, who is responsible for administering the elections.

Other commenters soon called for Witzel-Behl’s execution. One post was particularly troubling to her. It recommended a specific bullet for killing her – a 7.62 millimeter round for an AK-47 assault rifle.

Witzel-Behl was shocked by all the angry phone calls and threats that came to her office. Contrary to the story’s insinuation that the initials meant the ballots were fake, in reality she and her staff wrote her initials on all absentee ballots, before they were given to voters, as a matter of policy.

Witzel-Behl is among 25 election officials and workers targeted by more than 100 threatening and hostile communications that have cited the Gateway Pundit since last year’s election, according to a Reuters review of the materials, which included emails, letters and phone messages, as well as comments posted on the website’s stories.

These messages were directed at officials and staff from four jurisdictions, which featured frequently in misleading or false Pundit reports about voter fraud claims. They included the cities of Madison, Milwaukee, Fulton County in Georgia, and Maricopa County in Arizona.

Witzel Behl was one of at least five officials who were threatened with criminal prosecution. One of the targets was a Milwaukee municipality election director, and another in Maricopa County. The targets also included Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a mother and daughter who staffed a ballot counting operation in Fulton County; their ordeal was detailed this week by Reuters.

After Gateway Pundit ran an Aug. 14 story about them, a commenter posted below the piece: “The two women are traitors to the country and should be hung by the neck until dead.”

Fulton County’s election commissioner, and another Maricopa supervisor were also blamed by the Gateway Pundit. They received serious threats of violence after receiving information that the Gateway Pundit had implicated them in false claims of election-rigging. These threats didn’t mention the website in any way.

The harassment messages were mostly non-violent, but they often included intimidating, racist and misogynistic language. Many of the messages threatened to imprison officials, calling for them to be convicted of treason.

Gateway Pundit’s harassment and threats illustrate how disinformation plays a central role in the campaign of fear waged by Trump supporters to intimidate the leaders of American democracy.

“The Gateway Pundit brought your betrayal of Wisconsin and America to my attention,” said one threat emailed to Claire Woodall-Vogg, the Milwaukee elections director. “I hope you know there are consequences for your actions. You are a fascinating person to me. I will have to think about what comes next.”

The harassment communications linked to Gateway Pundit were among over 800 threats to election officials that Reuters documented this year. Legal experts also said more than 100 threats could be enough to trigger federal criminal prosecution. If the threats instil fear of imminent violence, or death they are crimes. Law enforcement has not held anyone accountable.

More than 10% of 800 messages were sent by harassers, citing the Gateway Pundit for the information they used to make their rage at the election officials. There was no mention of any other social media platform or outlet more than once.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on whether it was investigating any of the Gateway Pundit-inspired messages but said it “takes all threats of violence seriously.” No arrests have been made. In June, the Department of Justice created a taskforce to combat threats against electoral workers. It did not respond.

Gateway Pundit is a prominent player in a growing far-right media world that also includes Newsmax and One America News Network, as well as BitChute video-sharing website and the social media platforms Parler & Gab. Since the 2020 election, the Pundit has bolstered Trump’s false stolen-election narrative with coverage that generated outrage and helped grow its audience.

The Pundit’s U.S. web traffic approached 50 million monthly visits in the weeks after Trump’s November loss, up from about 15 million a year earlier, according to Similarweb (NYSE:), an internet-traffic intelligence service. More recently – from July through September – the audience settled at an average of 33 million monthly visits. That’s nearly double the 17 million monthly visits averaged over the same period by the website for MSNBC, the cable news channel known for left-leaning hosts.

Gateway Pundit refers to itself as a publisher for news and commentary. Launched in 2004 as an opinion blog, it established itself as one of Trump’s most dogged promoters in the 2016 presidential race. Trump frequently cited and retweeted Gateway Pundit stories during his campaign. After being elected, Trump quickly issued White House credentials for the site.

Trump’s spokesperson didn’t respond to inquiries for comment.

The U.S. Constitution’s free-speech and free-press provisions give news outlets – even those that publish false stories that spur threats – broad protections against any legal liability, especially criminal charges. While media may be sued for defamation but it can be difficult for officials to win such cases including election workers and administrators,

Officials have to prove “actual malice” as well as reputational damage. That standard, established by the U.S. Supreme Court, means plaintiffs must prove not only that they were harmed by the publication of false information, but also that the publisher either knew the information was false or operated with “reckless disregard for the truth,” said Roy Gutterman, a Syracuse University media law professor.

“Defamation is difficult to win for everybody, but it’s more difficult for public figures like most of these plaintiffs,” Gutterman said.

People who claimed they were vilified by false stories and faced many threats against the Gateway Pundit face at least three defamation lawsuits against it. The first two suits don’t involve public officials; the site is contesting both, asserting it broke no laws and had no responsibility for the threats of violence. Yesterday, Freeman and Moss filed the third suit on behalf of Georgia’s election workers. Gateway Pundit did not respond to the lawsuit.

Due to its incendiary, false content, The Pundit was subject to some commercial backlash. In September, it lost a major revenue source when Google (NASDAQ:) stopped placing ads on the site, citing its publication of “demonstrably false” election stories. Over the previous 10 months, the Pundit earned an estimated $1.3 million from ads placed through Google’s AdSense program, according to an analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which combats online extremism.

The Pundit has retained other advertising, mostly “clickbait” promotions placed by ad networks on behalf of hundreds or thousands of companies and products. Sites are paid according to the amount of advertisements clicked.

Reuters asked five ad network owners who have featured prominently on Gateway Pundit if the content of their site concerned them. Jeeng and ZergNet said that they had reviewed Gateway Pundit in response to the Reuters inquiry, and made a decision to discontinue placing advertisements on the site. Revcontent LLC, and MGID also stated that they were reevaluating their relationship with the site. LockerDome was fifth and did not reply to comments requests.

Gateway Pundit’s owner and editor, Jim Hoft, is an Iowa native with a college biology degree and no previous journalism background. Hoft is a co-author of many articles along with Joe Hoft (his twin brother) and about a dozen other contributors. Hoft published a Breitbart News column that he revealed his homosexuality after a 2016 mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando. He noted that the shooter was a sympathizer with radical Islamist organizations and argued that re-electing Trump would provide the best protection for gay people against more attacks.

Jim Hoft didn’t respond to interviews requests that were sent to him or his lawyer. Joe Hoft did not respond to interview requests.

“We never support any violence,” Jim Hoft said in an August deposition for a lawsuit. The suit alleged that his site defamed and incited threats against a former staffer of Dominion Voting Systems, a voting equipment maker often featured in the Pundit’s coverage. “We report on different individuals every day, and we always consider their safety.”

Hoft needs your support by creating several fundraising campaigns online on GiveSendGo. This crowdfunding website allows you to raise money for the cause. The site reports that these fundraising campaigns have brought in more than $250,000 so far. Hoft asks visitors to subscribe on the Pundit web site. “There’s a battle for survival of the Gateway Pundit,” he says in the message.

“WE’RE HERE FOR YOU CLAIRE!”

The threat that came to Milwaukee election chief Woodall-Vogg – citing the Gateway Pundit on her “betrayal’’ – was sent to the private email address she reserves for friends and family. The subject line: “Hello Marxist Bitch.”

The Pundit began targeting Woodall-Vogg days after the election, when she informed the Wisconsin Elections Commission that a flash drive used with the city’s vote-tabulating machines was inadvertently left at a processing center on election night. In a letter she wrote to the commissioners, she stated that the drive was found within minutes. After reviewing the case, the county district attorney found no evidence that there was any tampering.

The Gateway Pundit responded with a story headlined: “Milwaukee Elections Chief Lost Elections Flash Drive in Morning Hours of November 4th When Democrats Miraculously Found 120,000 Votes for Joe Biden.”

Woodall Vogg received angry emails within minutes. The messages continued as multiple audits and reviews confirmed Milwaukee’s results, which had helped Biden win Wisconsin.

In late July, another Pundit headline sparked a new wave of intimidation: “BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Uncovered Email Shows Milwaukee Elections Executive Woodall-Vogg Laughing About the Election Steal on Election Night.” The evidence: a joking email exchange between Woodall-Vogg and Ryan Chew, a staffer with The Elections Group, a nonprofit organization that provided free pre-election guidance to localities on improving 2020 voting processes.

Shortly after Milwaukee’s final votes were reported late on election night, Chew wrote: “Damn, Claire, you have a flair for drama, delivering just the margin needed at 3:00 a.m. I bet you had those votes counted at midnight and just wanted to keep the world waiting!” Woodall-Vogg replied: “Lol. I just wanted to wait to say I had been awake for a full 24 hours.”

Reuters heard from WoodallVogg, Chew, that their exchange was a slapstick joke. Chew said it would have been “absurd” for Woodall-Vogg to stay up late to add drama. “That absurdity was the essence of the joke,” Chew said.

The Pundit characterized the exchange as evidence that Woodall-Vogg was part of a multi-state fraud to manufacture a late-night “drop” of Biden votes. Woodall-Vogg’s inbox exploded with more than 70 furious messages. The Pundit was cited by many. Some demanded her execution. One person asked her if she was protected by private security. Some left threats voicemails. One said: “We’re coming for you, Claire.”

Woodall-Vogg, who was working from home for 10 days with her children, left the city. A half-dozen threats were referred to Milwaukee police by Woodall-Vogg. Reuters received confirmation from the FBI that the communication had been referred to them by the department after it was determined that they couldn’t be prosecuted in accordance with state and local law.

The security glass and protections at the election office are constantly being upgraded.

“The threats where I truly was concerned – the ones specific to me and my family – those didn’t happen until the Gateway Pundit article,” she said.

‘TICK, TICK, TICK’

In June, Vernetta Nuriddin, a Democratic member of Georgia’s Fulton County election board, was starting her summer vacation when her inbox filled with two dozen hostile emails. One subject line: “Tick, Tick, Tick.”

“Not long now…,” the email read.

Nuriddin said she found the email “frightening,” suggesting a bomb or other “imminent danger.”

That morning, the email addresses of Nuriddin and other board members were published in a Gateway Pundit report that said they were named in an activists’ lawsuit seeking a review of county absentee ballots. This suit was eventually dismissed.

Other outlets had reported on the suit days earlier, but the hostile messages to Nuriddin and other board members didn’t start until the Pundit published their email addresses. Some messages mentioned Nuriddin and the Gateway Pundit in particular, but others including the ticktick email did not. Nuriddin, who left the board this summer when her four-year term ended, said the Pundit’s reports often sparked messages from “people wishing the absolute worst on you, who don’t even know you.”

Nuriddin forwarded the tick-tick message to Fulton County Police Department. It dropped the case after deciding the message was not an “articulated threat” that constituted a crime under Georgia law, said Fulton’s chief, Wade Yates.

Reuters identified the sender of the “Tick, Tick” threat: Brian Lohman, of Jacksonville, Florida. He was among the nine individuals who stated in interviews that they harassed and threatened officials of elections for Reuters’ Nov. 9 report.

Lohman told Reuters he didn’t mean to suggest a bomb. He said he had read that Nuriddin was named in the lawsuit over Fulton County ballots and meant to suggest time was running out before she “had to go in front of a judge.” He declined to say whether he got the news – or Nuriddin’s email address – from the Gateway Pundit story.

“HANGING, GUILLOTINE?”

After the 2020 presidential election, the Pundit ran a slew of stories alleging voter fraud in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, the state’s largest city.

These reports included a May 9 article that claimed the county had deleted voter-machine data necessary for an audit by the state. Bill Gates, vice chair of the county Board of Supervisors, and others received an email with the link to the article just one hour after publication of the story.

“You dirty mother f***ing ass holes,” the subject line read. “You all have eyes in the back of your heads?” the message continued. “People have a limit.”

As multiple audits confirmed their results, the Pundit published stories that made false voter fraud claims. Maricopa supervisors also defended their accuracy. On Aug. 9, an email landed in the supervisors’ public inbox, asking: “Hanging or Guillotine?” The message cited a debunked Gateway Pundit story that claimed completed ballots from the 2020 election were shredded before they were counted.

Over the next month, Gates and his fellow supervisors would get at least nine more emails from the same sender, several of them citing Gateway Pundit stories and all repeating the warning: “TREASON Hanging or Guillotine?”

Supervisors already felt nervous. Gates’ fellow Republican board member, Clint Hickman, had received a voicemail on Aug. 4 that warned: “People are going to be coming and visiting the homes of the board of supervisors and basically executing their families. Should be fun.”

However, the voicemail didn’t mention Gateway Pundit. But Hickman and Gates said they blamed the Pundit’s bogus reporting for inspiring many of the threats and harassing messages against board members. “There’s no question this blog has generated threats toward me, my colleagues, and even my family’s 77-year-old business,” Hickman said, adding that the site conjures “ridiculous scenarios” with “no fact-checking.”

Gates said that he had referred to police about a dozen threats. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said it has been assessing threats against the supervisors. They have not made any arrests.

The THREATS of HANGING and SHOOTING

Gateway Pundit, a blog that covers the elections, published a false story about Rock County officials, Wisconsin. It was located approximately an hour from Madison.

The site reported that a software glitch led to 10,000 votes being “moved” from Trump to Biden “in just one Wisconsin county.” Such glitches, it said, were a Democratic scheme to “steal” the race.

That article was tweeted by Eric Trump, the former president’s son. He did not respond to an interview request sent through the former president’s office.

The vote count was not affected by the election results. The Associated Press published an error in its election-results tables and promptly corrected it.

Lisa Tollefson, the County Clerk, received a phone call at 7:45 a.m. about the story and ran to work. She found the phones jammed with angry Trump voters shouting at her staff. The furor lasted four days, and “was bad enough that we let the sheriff know, and he put protection on us,” Tollefson said.

Two weeks later, on Nov. 28, the Gateway Pundit turned its sights on Maribeth Witzel-Behl, the clerk in Madison, Wisconsin, whose initials appeared on the thousands of absentee ballots that the Pundit had wrongly characterized as “fake.”

Concerned by the story’s inaccuracies and the threats they provoked, she consulted with City Attorney Michael Haas, who sent Hoft an email requesting the Pundit correct the piece and remove the threatening comments.

“If there are additional threats or actual harassment against our employees we will be holding you accountable,” Haas wrote.

The next day, the story was updated: The references to “fake votes” were changed to “suspect votes.” All the comments also were removed from the page. The story was marked as “updated,” but contained no correction.

Joe Hoft, the brother of site founder Jim Hoff, wrote a follow-up story about Haas’s warning. Haas, he asserted, was attacking the Pundit’s free-speech rights.

“We found the City Attorney’s response threatening,” he wrote.