Newsmax Will Pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 Million—Settlement For 2020 Election Fraud Case
📝 usncan Note: Newsmax Will Pay Dominion Voting Systems $67 Million—Settlement For 2020 Election Fraud Case
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Topline
Newsmax confirmed Monday it will pay $67 million to settle Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case arguing the conservative news network knowingly made false claims about Dominion’s voting machines, the latest in a string of high-dollar settlements paid out by companies who falsely linked voting machines to fraud in the 2020 election—just as President Donald Trump continues to push the claims.
News anchors work at Newsmax’s booth during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 16, 2024.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Newsmax said it will pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems in installments over the next three years—far lower than the $1.6 billion the voting machine company sought in damages when it initially sued Newsmax in 2021.
Dominion sued Newsmax alleging the right-wing news network pushed claims tying the company’s voting machines to election fraud despite knowing those claims were false, one of a number of lawsuits brought by Dominion and rival voting company Smartmatic following the 2020 election.
The case had been set to go to trial, with the Delaware judge overseeing the case finding in April that Newsmax made false claims about Dominion and broadcast information about the voting company that “would likely cause reasonable viewers to think significantly less favorably about Dominion than if the viewers knew the truth.”
Newsmax said Monday it still denies its reporting was defamatory, claiming its reporting was “fair” and “balanced” and the network “believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020.”
The network decided to settle the case because it determined the court overseeing the case “would not provide a fair trial wherein the company could present standard libel defenses to a jury,” Newsmax claimed Monday.
The settlement comes after Newsmax also settled Smartmatic’s case against the news network in September 2024 for an undisclosed amount.
Big Number
More than $800 million. That’s how much Dominion has won as a result of settlements in its defamation cases, including the voting company’s $787.5 million settlement with Fox News.
News Peg
News of the multimillion-dollar settlement came hours after President Donald Trump continued to assert claims about voting machines being tied to election fraud, despite those claims repeatedly proven as false. The president claimed on Truth Social on Monday he would “lead a movement” against mail-in ballots and some voting machines, which he claimed without evidence are “Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial.” Court filings in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election—which has now been dropped—previously suggested Trump privately does not believe the fraud claims regarding voting machines. The president allegedly “mocked” claims made by attorney Sidney Powell tying voting machines to fraud, Smith claimed, with Trump likening the fraud claims to “Star Trek.”
