There were numerous allegations of major voter fraud in the weeks before and following the 2020 presidential election, which former President Donald Trump claimed helped his rival, Joe Biden, win. Many of these instances were found to have tainted votes, but not all of them. Two voting system businesses are suing Fox News right now for using their names and products in their reporting in a defamatory manner.
Both Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic are suing Fox News for millions of dollars in damages because of what the right-wing news outlet and its staff said while covering the 2020 presidential election. Judge Eric Davis disagreed with most of the rationale on Friday, March 31, and permitted the Dominion’s case to go to a jury trial. Fox defended itself by claiming that its reporting is protected by the First Amendment and that its reporters should be free to voice their ideas.
Fox News said Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo and other top on-air personalities will be available to testify in a defamation lawsuit, brought by Dominion Voting Systems, claiming it lied about voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election https://t.co/X6dPeMXMZL
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 4, 2023
Fox News representatives informed the Delaware Superior Court in a letter they submitted on Tuesday, April 4, that they would be sending 11 witnesses to the trial, which will begin on April 17 and last for nearly a month. The list comprised the following hosts and journalists:
- Jeanine Pirro
- Lou Dobbs
- Bret Baier
- Dana Perino
- Tucker Carlson
- Sean Hannity
- Maria Bartiromo
In response to claimed slander throughout its coverage of the 2020 presidential election, Dominion is suing Fox News for $1.6 billion in damages. To succeed, Dominion’s legal team must demonstrate that the well-known conservative news network knowingly disseminated misleading material or acted carelessly in its reporting of actual events.
After Fox News faces this lawsuit, it must also survive the legal proceedings regarding Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion lawsuit, according to Reuters, who said that the evidence so far is “CRYSTAL clear” and that “none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.”