A $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from the elections technology company Dominion Voting Systems against the right-wing media outlet known as Newsmax has been upheld, for now, by a Delaware judge. That judge rejected a motion from Newsmax to dismiss the case, letting Dominion proceed.
Judge Eric M. Davis of the Superior Court of the State of Delaware handled the matter. “Given that Newsmax apparently refused to report contrary evidence, including evidence from the Department of Justice, the allegations support the reasonable inference that Newsmax intended to keep Dominion’s side of the story out of the mainstream,” the judge concluded. “Moreover, there are numerous instances in which Newsmax personnel did not merely ask questions and parrot interviewee responses, but rather, endorsed or suggested a motivated result. By skewing questioning and approving responses in a way that fit or promoted a narrative in which Dominion committed election fraud, Newsmax may have failed to report the issue truthfully.”
Newsmax was among the right-wing sources touting falsehoods about Dominion’s supposed role in imaginary election fraud in the 2020 presidential race. “The Complaint supports the reasonable inference that Newsmax either knew its statements about Dominion’s role in the election fraud were false or had a high degree of awareness that they were false,” Davis also stated, pointing to previously available evidence against the idea of widespread election fraud involving technology from Dominion Voting Systems. “The fact that, despite this evidence, Newsmax continued to publish its allegations against Dominion, suggests Newsmax knew the allegations were probably false,” the judge added. Dominion’s case isn’t proven yet, but it’s not drawn from nothing, the judge found. Dominion has indicated it ended up needing to spend $600,000 on private security due to threats tied to lies about its operations and another $700,000 working against false allegations made about the company.
Dominion Voting Systems has repeatedly figured prominently in false claims made about the last presidential election by Trump and a whole slew of right-wing characters. “Dominion deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide,” Donald himself claimed in a Twitter post from after the 2020 presidential election, but there’s never been any real-world evidence backing up these claims — although Trump still stands by them. “It is a one sided, highly partisan Witch Hunt, the likes of which has never been seen in Congress before. Therefore, I am hereby demanding EQUAL TIME to spell out the massive Voter Fraud & Dem Security Breach!” Trump recently said on Truth Social, discussing recent proceedings of the January 6 committee in the House.
And Trump and his goons are infusing this nonsense into real-world scenarios: Trump’s been backing an array of election liars for prominent positions around the U.S., where they’d be able to exert some control over the handling of election outcomes Trump dislikes.
In addition, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is among those behind litigation hoping to apparently completely stop the use of voting machines in U.S. elections. Lindell “is also financing what he told Insider is a nationwide legal push to stop voting machines from being used in elections,” according to Business Insider. And he’s… let’s just say quite emphatic about the whole thing. “You know what, after those two days, if there’s any politician left in the United States that says there was no election crime, and that they really are in love with those machines, they can sit behind those melted down prison bars made from those machines,” Lindell said in reference to a two-day premiere event planned for a movie he’s financing meant to supposedly prove reality-disconnected election fraud claims.
