Newsmax likely knew 2020 election fraud claims ‘were probably false’: judge

• A judge has dismissed Newsmax’s motion to dismiss a defamation case brought by Dominion.
• The outlet aired false claims that Dominion software shifted votes away from former President Trump.
• The judge wrote that evidence suggests “Newsmax knew the allegations were probably false.”

A judge has rejected Newsmax’s effort to dismiss a defamation case brought against it by the voting software company Dominion, ruling that the right-wing media outlet pushed allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 election that it likely knew at the time were not true.

In 2021, Dominion sued Newsmax over such claims, seeking $1.6 billion in damages over claims aired by the network that its vote-counting software had been used to steal the election. Newsmax had sought to have the defamation suit thrown out, arguing it was an attempt to limit free speech.

But in a June 16 ruling, Judge Eric M. Davis of the Superior Court of the State of Delaware wrote that Dominion had provided sufficient evidence for the case to move forward.

In fact, Davis wrote, the company’s lawsuit supported “the reasonable inference that Newsmax either knew its statements about Dominion’s role in the [alleged] election fraud were false or had a high degree of awareness that they were false.”

Davis noted public evidence that the vote was not stolen, including statements from the Trump administration’s own Department of Justice. A Nov. 12, 2020, statement, for example, issued by the federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and cosigned by leading election security officials, stated that there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

Such evidence suggests that, even as the outlet continued to air claims against Dominion, “Newsmax knew the allegations were probably false.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Dominion hailed the decision as a step forward in the process “to hold Newsmax accountable.”

In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Newsmax asserted that the company “reported on both sides in the election dispute without making any claim about the results other than saying they were ‘legal and final.’” The company is confident it “will ultimately prevail” in the defamation case on free speech grounds, the statement added.

Newxmax personalities did more than just straight reporting on the election, however.

In a November 2020 broadcast, anchor Greg Kelly aired false claims from attorney Sidney Powell that Dominion software had been used to shift votes from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden, commenting that “the truth is finally told” and “the evidence is slowly emerging.”

Newsmax previously apologized for the content it broadcast in the wake of the 2020 election, including claims that a Dominion employee, Eric Coomer, had directed an effort to steal the election.

“On behalf of Newsmax, we would like to apologize for any harm that our reporting of the allegations against Dr. Coomer may have caused to Dr. Coomer and his family,” the company said at the time.

Coomer had sued the company after receiving death threats. The parties later reached a settlement, the terms of which were not disclosed.

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com