The 2024 presidential election is approaching, but the legal battle over how the 2020 race was covered by right-wing channel Newsmax isn’t going away quietly. On Sept. 30, Newsmax will head into a Deleware court to defend itself against a defamation lawsuit filed by Smartmatic, a London-based voting machine technology company.
Smartmatic says its reputation was damaged by false statements made on the network regarding voter fraud allegations in the 2020 presidential election. Smartmatic’s suit says Newsmax provided a platform for its hosts, Donald Trump and the former president’s attorneys and allies to falsely claim that the company’s software was manipulated to deliver the election for President Biden. Smartmatic’s equipment was only used in Los Angeles County in 2020 and not in any of the swing states that helped decide the election.
The claims were given ample airtime on Newsmax despite a lack of credible evidence of fraud and a complete rejection of Trump’s legal challenges in the courts. Smartmatic says it lost business because of the bogus statements. “Newsmax’s own people repeatedly and intentionally lied to the public,” said Smartmatic attorney Erik Connolly.
“This trial will allow the American judicial process to finally hold Newsmax accountable for knowingly peddling lies about Smartmatic.” Newsmax countered that Trump’s claims were newsworthy and its reporting on them was protected by the 1st Amendment. The company also issued an on-air cla.