Another alleged “smoking gun” for voting fraud in the 2020 election has gone up in smoke.
Salem Media Group, publisher of the film and book “2000 Mules,” on Friday apologized to a metro Atlanta man who was falsely accused of voting fraud in the film. The voter, Mark Andrews, filed a defamation lawsuit against Salem and the film’s producers in 2022.
The apology is apparently part of a settlement of that lawsuit. A spokesman for Project Democracy, the group that represents Andrews in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment.
The 2022 documentary film purported to expose illegal ballot “harvesting” in Georgia and other states. Harvesting is the practice of collecting and delivering multiple absentee ballots.
The film showed Andrews – face blurred – depositing five ballots in a drop box before the 2020 presidential election. “What you are seeing is a crime,” narrator Dinesh D’Souza, the film’s producer, says.” These are fraudulent votes.”
But an investigation by the secretary of state’s office found the ballots were not fraudulent. Andrews was delivering ballots for himself and members of his family, which is not illegal. Investigators also debunked other Georgia claims made in the film.
The producers – D’Souza and the group True the Vote – later told a court they had no documentary evidence supporting their ballot harvesting claims and didn’t even know the identity of their anonymous source who outlined the purported scheme.
In 2022 Andrews filed a defamation lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta against D’Souza, True the Vote, Salem Media Group and its then-subsidiary Regnery Publishing. Andrews said they lied to advance a phony voting fraud narrative at his expense, and he endured numerous threats as a result.
In court documents, Salem and the other defendants sought to have the lawsuit dismissed. Among other things, they said Andrews was not identified in the film. But on Friday Salem apologized and said it would no longer distribute the film or the book.
“In publishing the film and the book, we relied on representations made to us by Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote, Inc. that the individuals depicted in the videos provided to us by TTV, including Mr. Andrews, illegally deposited ballots.” Salem said on a statement posted on its web site. “We have learned that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has cleared Mr. Andrews of illegal voting activity in connection with the event depicted in ‘2000 Mules.’”
“It was never our intent that the publication of the’ 2000 Mules’ film and book would harm Mr. Andrews,” Salem said. “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.”
Representatives of True the Vote and D’Souza did not respond to requests for comment.
The Georgia GOP promoted the film when it was released, saying it raised “significant questions about the integrity of the 2020 elections.” The party did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
The accusations in “2000 Mules” are among numerous high-profile claims that were initially hailed as proof of fraud in the 2020 election but did not hold up under scrutiny. State and federal investigators found no evidence to support allegations of widespread fraud captured on video at State Farm Arena, counterfeit ballots and other claims.
Investigators did find some problems during ballot counting, but not enough to have affected the outcome of the election. Two recounts also confirmed Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in Georgia.
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