- Salem Media Group has pulled the film and book “2000 Mules” after a Georgia man filed a defamation suit for being falsely depicted as engaging in voter fraud.
- The film, made by Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote, falsely showed Mark Andrews depositing ballots, which the Georgia Bureau of Investigation later cleared him of any wrongdoing.
- Multiple allegations in the film have been debunked, and True the Vote admitted to not having evidence to support its claims of voter fraud, despite the film gaining traction among conservatives.
The conservative media company behind “2000 Mules,” Dinesh D’Souza’s thoroughly discredited 2020 election conspiracy film, has pulled both the film and the book from its platforms and has apologized to a Georgia man who filed a defamation suit after the film falsely depicted him as engaging in voter fraud.
Salem Media Group said in a statement Friday that it had not intended to harm the man, Mark Andrews. It also said it will no longer distribute “2000 Mules” or the book of the same title that followed.
“We apologize for the hurt the inclusion of Mr. Andrews’ image in the movie, book, and promotional materials have caused Mr. Andrews and his family,” the company said.
Andrews is seen in the film depositing five ballots into a ballot box as D’Souza says in a voice over: “What you are seeing is a crime. These are fraudulent votes.” Andrews’ face was blurred in the footage, but during promotion and discussion of the film, True the Vote’s executives showed video of him without obscuring Andrews’ face, the lawsuit says.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation cleared Andrews after determining that he was legally dropping off ballots on behalf of his family. Andrews’ lawsuit against D’Souza, True the Vote and Salem is still ongoing.
Salem said in its statement that it “relied on representations” made by D’Souza and True the Vote that people in the footage they provided were illegally depositing ballots. After its release in 2022, the company hailed the film as “the most successful political documentary in a decade.”
D’Souza and True the Vote did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Multiple allegations made in the film have been debunked, and in February, True the Vote told a court that it did not have evidence to support its allegations of voter fraud. Yet the film gained wide traction among conservatives upon its release. Trump held a screening of the film at Mar-a-Lago. Rep. Andy Biggs, a member of the House Oversight Committee, pushed for congressional hearings over the allegations in the film.
After the film’s release, Salem published book with the same title, but it was delayed as it was about to hit shelves, with D’Souza citing “a significant error [that] got missed by the publisher.” NPR reported that the new version of the book omitted the names of specific nonprofits that the earlier version accused of illegal “ballot trafficking” and removed “sections of the book that purported to link election fraud to antifa and the Black Lives Matter.”
“2,000 Mules” — which should have been titled “2,000 tons of muleshit” made the following claims.
- The producers obtained cellphone tracking data from several locations around the US.
- They then matched this data to locations of drop boxes where people dropped off mail-in ballots.
- Then, because the same cellphones were regularly in the vicinity of drop boxes, they claimed the owners of these phones were “mules”, dropping off piles of ballots.
Bullshit. Or, perhaps we should say “Muleshit”.
First: Cellphone tracking data is not that precise. The data does not locate a cellphone within a few feet of a location, more like 50 – 100 feet or more.
Second: The “analysis” completely ignored some facts.
- Drop boxes are located in high traffic areas because that’s where people are and the boxes are placed to be convenient to the most people.
- People carrying cellphones have many legitimate reasons to be in the same place day in, day out:
- UPS, Post Office, FedEx and other delivery people who deliver on the same route daily.
- Police on patrol.
- People who work in or near the drop box location.
- People whose daily routines take them past the drop box.
- And any number of other perfectly legitimate reasons for a person with a cellphone to go to or pass by the same place time and again.
The only people who would believe this nonsense in the first place are the same low-intelligence, un-thinking, dumbass goobers who vote for Trump.