Fox News asks skeptical judge to toss $2.7 billion election suit
A Fox News lawyer was grilled by a judge about the network’s extensive coverage of false claims that the voting technology firm Smartmatic Corp. conspired against Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, as Fox seeks dismissal of a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit.
At a hearing Tuesday in Manhattan, Justice David Cohen asked Fox to explain why former anchor Lou Dobbs repeatedly claimed on air in November and December that there was new “groundbreaking” evidence of voter fraud even after U.S. officials had debunked such claims.
“That is clearly his opinion,” Fox News attorney Paul Clement said.
Clement argued that Fox’s broadcasts about the election were protected by the First Amendment and that the network was reporting fairly on claims being made by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell, who frequently appeared on Fox.
At the time, Giuliani and Powell were claiming to “essentially have mountains of evidence — evidence coming out of a fire hose,” Clement said.
Fox is fighting a similar suit by Dominion Voting Systems Inc., whose technology was used in dozens of states in the 2020 election. A federal judge last week allowed Dominion’s suits against Giuliani and Powell to proceed.
Smartmatic lawyer Erik Connolly said at the hearing that Fox’s reports weren’t protected because the false claims about Smartmatic didn’t stem from coverage of a legitimate government investigation. The network did a “dance” with Giuliani and Powell to get their message out, he said.
Smartmatic filed the suit in New York state court in February, accusing Fox, Giuliani and Powell of executing a coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at convincing the public of rampant election fraud. The suit also names Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. All have denied wrongdoing. Earlier this year Fox canceled Dobbs’s nightly show but said it was part of changes that had already been in the works.
The case is Smartmatic USA Corp. v. Fox Corp., 151136/2021, Supreme Court of the State of New York (Manhattan).
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