‘…on the basis of inaccurate information’: Trump’s ‘stolen election’ moviemaker admits to sharing false claims

Dinesh D’Souza, the filmmaker behind the conspiracist film 2000 Mules, which tried to prove Donald Trump’s stolen election narrative, admits that the movie made false claims.

Since Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, he and his followers have pushed baseless claims that the election was stolen. There is absolutely no evidence to support conservatives’ claims of election fraud. Even voter data experts hired by Trump’s own team conceded that the evidence simply does not exist of any large-scale voter fraud. Despite the facts, conservatives remain convinced of the myth of voter fraud. Their staunch belief in the conspiracy is very dangerous, given how it helped incite the violent January 6 insurrection. Nonetheless, right-wing political commentator, conspiracy theorist, and filmmaker D’Souza decided to produce a movie highlighting the false claims.

2000 Mules claims that swing states utilized paid “mules” or couriers to illegally collect and drop off extra ballots in drop boxes. However, its only “proof” was questionable statements from conservative organizations like True the Vote, faulty cellphone data, and outlandish assumptions. For example, it assumed that people whose phones pinged near ballot boxes multiple times a day must be paid mules. The biggest mistake it made was publicly accusing people, including Atlanta citizen Mark Andrews, of the very serious crime of voter fraud. In an apology to Andrews following Andrews’ defamation lawsuit, D’Souza admitted to making false claims in 2000 Mules.

Dinesh D’Souza admits 2000 Mules included faulty claims

2000 Mules utilized surveillance footage of Andrews at a ballot box. Although his face is blurred, he alleged in his defamation lawsuit that his image was used in promotional materials. The film accused him of being a mule when, in reality, he was legally dropping off ballots for himself, his wife, and three adult children. He was quickly exonerated of wrongdoing and filed his defamation lawsuit against D’Souza in 2022. Recently, D’Souza quietly released a statement on his website, D’Souza Media, in which he apologized to Andrews and admitted that 2000 Mules made false claims.

In his statement, he explains that True the Vote had provided him with “inaccurate information.” The organization supplied him with surveillance footage and “assured” him that it was “linked to geolocation cell phone data.” He believed the surveillance footage of people like Andrews showed people who had visited the drop box at least 10 times. However, he seemingly just took True the Vote’s word for it and didn’t double-check the data. D’Souza claims he only recently learned that the geolocation data was flawed. He stated, “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. If I had known then that the videos were not linked to geolocation data, I would have clarified this and produced and edited the film differently.”

D’Souza also issued an apology to Mr. Andrews “for any harm he believes he and his family has suffered as a result of 2000 Mules.” Even though he admitted that the very premise of the film was based on inaccurate information, he still insisted that the “underlying premise of the film holds true.” Like Trump and most of MAGA, he still refuses to just admit that Trump lost the election. It’s also interesting that he claims it was only “recently” that he discovered the flawed data. Andrews was exonerated before 2000 Mules even premiered, yet D’Souza moved ahead with the release. Before its wide release, multiple outlets quickly fact-checked the movie and pointed out numerous errors, false claims, conspiracies, and holes.

Needless to say, it should not have taken D’Souza over two years to suddenly realize the data was flawed or to apologize and take accountability of his own accord.