‘2000 Mules’ creator admits some of film’s claims are flawed

CNN

By Donie O’Sullivan, CNN

(CNN) — The creator of a widely debunked movie that became a central pillar in the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen has admitted that some of the film’s claims are flawed.

The movie, “2,000 Mules” by far-right activist Dinesh D’Souza, promoted a false conspiracy theory that vote drop boxes were the scene of mass widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election – alleging that so-called “mules” were stuffing voter drop boxes with ballots.

The movie premiered at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 and was widely embraced across the MAGA universe as a way to demonize the use of ballot drop boxes, and perpetuate the false claim of voter fraud. Later in 2022 armed men stalked voters at drop boxes in Arizona.

In 2022, a Georgia man featured in the film depositing his ballot filed a lawsuit alleging that bogus claims in the movie had severely damaged his reputation and led to threats of violence against him and his family.

In a statement D’Souza posted on X last week, he apologized to the man, Mark Andrews.

In the film, Andrews was featured on video with his face blurred while depositing his ballot, along with those belonging to his family, into a drop box in what the film purported was a “mule” operation.

“What you are seeing is a crime,” a voiceover from D’Souza declared. “These are fraudulent votes.”

“I know that the film and my book create the impression that these individuals were mules that had been identified as suspected ballot harvesters,” D’Souza said in a statement posted on social media last week.

“I owe this individual, Mark Andrews, an apology. I now understand that the surveillance videos used in the film were characterized on the basis of inaccurate information provided to me and my team.”

D’Souza’s apology came a few months after right-wing talk radio network owner Salem Media Group, issued a public apology to Andrews and said it would stop distributing the film.

“It was never our intent that the publication of the 2000 Mules film and book would harm Mr. Andrews,” Salem said in a statement released in May. “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.”

“We have removed the film from Salem’s platforms, and there will be no future distribution of the film or the book by Salem,” the right-wing company added.

The apology from Salem came as part of a larger settlement to the lawsuit filed by Andrews.

In his statement posted last week, D’Souza said, “I make this apology not under the terms of a settlement agreement or other duress, but because it is the right thing to do, given what we have now learned.”

D’Souza pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in 2014. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump granted him a full pardon.

Despite the apology, D’Souza claimed in the statement that he stands by other assertions made in the film.

D’Souza said the error involving Andrews was due to data the filmmakers received from True the Vote, a so-called “election integrity” group that has trafficked in election conspiracy theories.

The movie purported to use cell phone geolocation data gathered by True the Vote to show that so-called mules repeatedly visited voter drop boxes.

Those claims have been thoroughly debunked by election and cyber experts. Former US Attorney General William Barr referenced the movie when he told the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol that he doesn’t believe the election was stolen.

“I haven’t seen anything since the election that changes my mind on that, including the ‘2,000 Mules’ movie,” Barr said in his testimony.

True the Vote also provided data to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2021, but the agency concluded that there wasn’t “any other kind of evidence” that tied the provided cell phone and geolocation data to ballot harvesting.

In a statement responding to D’Souza, True the Vote maintained the central, but widely debunked, claims made in the movie are accurate.

The group disputed D’Souza’s suggestion that it was to blame for implicating Andrews.

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