Dominion Voting Systems sued Newsmax and several others on Tuesday, claiming defamation over reporting of election fraud by the company and others.
While Newsmax is reviewing Dominion’s filing seeking $1.6 billion in damages, the network released a statement saying, “Newsmax simply reported on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the president, his advisers and members of Congress.
“Dominion’s action today is a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press,” Newsmax said.
On Tuesday, Dominion also sued One America News Network and Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive of Overstock.com Inc., an online seller of furniture and other items.
In each suit, Dominion is seeking more than $1.6 billion in damages over alleged lost profits and other damages.
The suits filed Tuesday are just the latest batch of legal challenges the voting-machine company has filed against media outlets and other prominent backers of former President Donald Trump for allegedly spreading false claims about the company and its involvement in the 2020 election.
Dominion has already sued Fox News, Rudy Giuliani, pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, and Mike Lindell and his company MyPillow – making similar claims of defamation.
Fox News has moved to have the suit filed against it dismissed.
In a May court filing, Fox argued that news outlets "must be able to report both sides of a story involving claims striking at the core of our democracy."
The 177-page Dominion suit filed against Newsmax Media Inc. in state court in Delaware claims that “Newsmax manufactured, endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion.”
In a statement, Dominion CEO John Poulos said, “The defendants in today’s filings recklessly disregarded the truth when they spread lies in November and continue to do so today. We are filing these three cases today because the defendants named show no remorse, nor any sign they intend to stop spreading disinformation.”
After the 2020 election, Newsmax interviewed and reported on the statements made by Trump, his attorneys, elected officials, and others who made claims about Dominion.
During its election results coverage, Newsmax made several requests for an interview with Dominion’s spokesman, who declined to come on the network.
Newsmax also hosted and aired multiple guests who claimed the election was not stolen or rigged and disagreed with the Trump campaign claims.
On Dec. 19, 2020, Newsmax issued a statement clarifying its coverage, noting that “No evidence has been offered that Dominion … used software or reprogrammed software that manipulated votes in the 2020 election.”
In correspondence with Dominion, Newsmax also noted that though the Trump campaign did not provide evidence of software manipulation, this does not mean the voting company never acted wrongly.
The Dominion lawsuit was filed on the opening day of “Mike Lindell’s Cyber Symposium” in South Dakota, a three-day event in which he and panels of experts, government officials and other political figures were to discuss the MyPillow CEO’s claims of election fraud.
Newsmax — as well as other outlets — aired paid television advertisements for the symposium. Fox News declined to air the advertisement citing pending litigation.
Marisa Herman ✉
Marisa Herman, a Newsmax senior reporter, focuses on major and investigative stories. A University of Florida graduate, she has more than a decade of experience as a reporter for newspapers, magazines, and websites.
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