SMARTMATIC THREATENS SUITS VS. FOX NEWS, PRO-TRUMP MEDIA OUTLETS

Election technology company Smartmatic has demanded retractions from Fox News, Newsmax and OAN “for publishing false and defamatory statements” against the firm and threatened to sue them if they fail to do as demanded. The company did not say whether it is also suing Donald Trump, who was roundly defeated in the Nov. 3 election by Joe Biden.

The Florida-based company has been targeted by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who is leading the Trump campaign’s long-shot attempts to undo Joe Biden’s projected presidential victory, Kevin Breuninger reported for CNBC.

It said “the company is reserving all its legal rights and remedies, including its right to pursue defamation and disparagement claims.” Smartmatic’s letter to Fox also identifies numerous other claims and implications as “false and defamatory,” including that the company is corruptly tied to Venezuela and that the company sent US votes to foreign countries to be tabulated.

The letter to Fox says that Smartmatic “has no involvement in the tabulation and results reporting processes,” adding, “The technology is not controlled by a server located outside the US and no votes were or could be transmitted outside the US.”

Smartmatic’s founders were born in Venezuela, but the company itself was founded in Boca Raton, Florida, and says it does not have any current operations in Venezuela, Reuters, CNN and Associated Press (AP) also reported.

The legal notice to Fox, shared with CNBC, accuses the news outlet of engaging “in a concerted disinformation campaign against Smartmatic.” That 20-page letter cites dozens of claims, most of which were made on Fox by Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell, who was formerly affiliated with the campaign and has filed multiple unsuccessful lawsuits alleging fraud in key swing states won by Biden.

Most of those statements were delivered in mid-November on programs hosted by Maria Bartiromo or Lou Dobbs, both of whom are also accused of making their own defamatory claims about Smartmatic. The letter includes references to statements made on a Fox program hosted by Jeanine Pirro and one from Fox host Jesse Watters.

“This is the first in a series of steps we are taking to defend our company against baseless attacks that are intended to damage our reputation as a means to undermine confidence in election outcomes,” Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica said in a statement to CNBC. “We stand to lose billions of dollars in business in the coming years because of these baseless attacks on our company,” Mugica’s statement said.

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