Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil has sued Fox News, ex-Fox host Lou Dobbs, and ex-Trump attorney Sidney Powell for $250 million in damages after he was falsely implicated by allies of former President Trump in non-existent schemes to rig the 2020 presidential election. As summarized by Business Insider, Dobbs and Powell ‘pushed elements of the false theory that alleged Khalil was once the “COO” of an operation to rig votes for the now-dead Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that he was involved in a plot to rig the 2020 US presidential election as well.’ Dobbs once also described Khalil as a “liaison with Hezbollah,” referring to the Middle Eastern terrorist group — something for which Dobbs had no legitimate evidence.
In the first year of Trump’s presidency, the S&P 500 hit new records 62 times and finished up 17%.
In the first year of Biden’s presidency, the S&P 500 hit new records 70 times and finished up 29%.
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) December 30, 2021
Khalil says in his lawsuit that he has no affiliation with either Dominion Voting Systems or Smartmatic — election technology companies that were the subject of pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the election, and Khalil also laid out how he has never been involved in the handling of any U.S. election. Smartmatic itself has also sued interests including Fox News, seeking the larger sum of $2.7 billion in damages. At no point has any legitimate evidence of any sort of election-rigging scheme emerged, although that glaring lack has not stopped former President Trump himself, among others, from continuing to spread the lie that the election was somehow fixed for Biden. It’s the lie that inspired the January attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, but that connection to real-world violence doesn’t faze Trump.
GDP growth during Donald Trump’s final year in office: -3.5%.
GDP growth during Joe Biden’s first year in office: +5.5%#BidenBoom
— Rep. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) December 31, 2021
Fox News is also the target of a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which faced utterly ridiculous claims throughout the months following the election, like the insistence from Trump that the company had somehow deleted millions of his votes. In fact, authorities at the federal level and in states around the country concluded that no such thing took place. Powell, meanwhile, is facing her own lawsuit from Dominion, whose other litigation targets also include longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. None of these lawsuits — no matter how gargantuan in their requests for damages — have altered the insistence within Trump’s circles on sticking by election-related lies.
If you're mad about Joe Biden making 31 trips to his home in Delaware in his first year in office, then you're going to be outraged at Donald Trump making 547 trips to Trump properties in his four years as president
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) December 31, 2021
