Website that pushed Trump's false voter fraud claims announces it has filed for bankruptcy

In a message posted to the conspiracy theory-laden site that he founded, Jim Hoft announced that The Gateway Pundit has declared bankruptcy.

“TGP Communications, the parent company of The Gateway Pundit, recently made the decision to seek protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the Southern District of Florida as a result of the progressive liberal lawfare attacks against our media outlet," Jim Hoft wrote in the post.

In December of 2021 Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss sued the site alleging that Hoft and his twin brother Joe Hoft used the site to engage in "a campaign of lies” that “instigated a deluge of intimidation, harassment, and threats that has forced them to change their phone numbers, delete their online accounts, and fear for their physical safety.”

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The site grew to prominence and saw its traffic surge in 2020 by repeating false claims about mass voter fraud in the that year's election -- claims that helped spark the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. As Mediaite points out, the site saw around 1.7 million unique readers in January of 2020 alone. A year later, that number dropped by around 50 percent.

“This is not an admission of fault or culpability. This is a common tool for reorganization and to consolidate litigation when attacks are coming from all sides. It allows TGP to consolidate this lawfare in one court for ultimate resolution," Hoft wrote in his statement.

Freeman and Moss also sued former Trump lawyer and confidant Rudy Giuliani for defamation after he accused them of partaking in an alleged plot to steal the 2020 election. He was ordered in December of last year to pay Freeman and Moss around $148 million in damages for the harassment they endured as a result of his allegations. He later declared bankruptcy, too.