Fox News and Fox Business, which mentioned Dominion 792 times and Smartmatic 118 times according to a TVEyes search, appear to be taking the threat seriously. Over the weekend, they aired one of the strangest three-minute segments I’ve ever seen on television, in a disembodied and anonymous voice that exposed a series of factual questions about Smartmatic from voting machine expert Eddie Perez, who debunked a series of false claims . The segment, which appeared as a script to convince a very literally minded judge or jury that the network is fair, aired on the Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo shows over the weekend that featured Mr Giuliani and wife Powell were making their most extravagant claims.
Newsmax said in a statement emailed that the broadcaster “has never made any claim of inappropriateness regarding Smartmatic, its property or its software” and that the company is merely providing a “forum for public concern and discussion.” An OAN spokeswoman did not respond to a request.
I hesitate to launch a defamation case against news organizations, even networks that seem to reinforce dangerous lies. Corporations and politicians often use the Libel Act to threaten and silence journalists, and at the very least expose them to expensive and onerous legal disputes.
And defamation cases can also clash with topics of real public concern, such as the most prominent case I was involved in when a businessman sued me and my colleagues at BuzzFeed News for publishing the Steele dossier, acknowledging that it had not been reviewed. There a judge ruled that the document was an official record that BuzzFeed was authorized to publish.
In this controversy, even the worst critics of the polling companies find the coverage grossly skewed.
“They’ve taken down every paper I’ve ever written and every deposit I’ve ever given, and that’s nonsense,” said Douglas W. Jones, associate professor of computer science at the University of Iowa, who has been running this voting software Long argued is not as certain as the providers claim. He said Ms. Powell’s cybersecurity expert Navid Keshavarz-Nia called him on Nov. 15, apparently viewing him as a potential ally, and thinking point by point for an hour about claims that would end in a deposit. “He appeared to be healthy, but every time I asked for evidence to support either of those claims, it turned into a different claim,” said Mr Jones.
As the conversation continued, he asked himself, “Has anyone tried to pull a ‘borat’ on me?”
But the allegations are no joke for Smartmatic and Dominion. Mr Mugica said he had taken worried calls from governments and politicians around the world, concerned that Mr Trump’s poison would invade their politics and turn a smartmatic contract into liability.
“This could potentially destroy everything,” he said.
Mr. Mugica wouldn’t say whether he decided to sue. Mr. Connolly said he “has a lot of people watching a lot of videos” and that he is researching whether to file in New York, Florida or elsewhere. I asked Mr. Mugica if he would be satisfied with an apology.
“Will the apology reverse the false beliefs of the tens of millions of people who believe these lies?” he asked. “Then I could be satisfied.”
