Newsmax faces 'bet-your-company' defamation trial over 2020 election lies
Source: CNN Business
Published 5:00 AM EDT, Thu September 26, 2024
Washington CNN — Jury selection is set to begin Thursday in a closely watched defamation trial pitting voting technology company Smartmatic against the right-wing cable network Newsmax, in a high-stakes case over the airing of false 2020 election claims. Barring a last-minute settlement, which is common in cases like these, both sides are girding for a showdown in Delaware Superior Court, where a similar lawsuit between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems was famously settled last year for a record $787 million.
The Newsmax case revolves around the same false claims, championed by former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, that the 2020 election was rigged by Smartmatic software and others. The Florida-based company sued Newsmax and other right-wing outlets and figures in 2021, alleging that its reputation was destroyed by the lies.
Newsmax has denied wrongdoing and said it was covering newsworthy events protected by the First Amendment. Unlike other right-wing networks that were sued, Newsmax also ran an on-air “clarification” in December 2020 declaring that it’s newsroom had not uncovered any evidence that Smartmatic or Dominion “manipulated votes in the 2020 election.”
“This is a case that is a bet-your-company case for Newsmax,” Howard Cooper, an attorney representing the pro-Trump network, said in a pretrial hearing last week. Judge Eric Davis, who also oversaw Dominion’s blockbuster case against Fox News, is set to preside over a monthlong trial in Wilmington, Delaware.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/26/media/newsmax-smartmatic-trial-2020-election-defamation/index.html
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