Fox News Forced to Debunk Its Own False Voting Machine Claims
Fox Business host Lou Dobbs aired a segment debunking false claims about Smartmatic voting machines over the weekend.
Steven Ferdman / Getty Images
Fox News and
Fox Business just aired multiple segments debunking false election claims made on their shows for weeks after the voting technology company Smartmatic recently threatened to sue the network along with fellow right-wing cable channels
OANN and
Fox Business host Lou Dobbs and
Fox News hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro aired the same segment debunking false claims that Smartmatic was involved in a scheme to switch votes from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden over the weekend. The segment comes in response to a new lawsuit threat from Smartmatic over several segments in which Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, and the hosts pushed the baseless conspiracy theory even though the company was not involved in
Updated
Dec 22, 2020
Smartmatic, a voting systems company, has threatened multiple outlets with defamation suits.
Newsmax, a far-right news network that routinely peddles baseless conspiracy theories that favor Donald Trump, over the weekend began airing a lengthy clarification of its coverage about voter fraud in the presidential election.
In a nearly two-minute statement that is being read on all Newsmax shows, the channel is essentially walking back its own groundless claims that electronic voting system companies Smartmatic and Dominion were involved in some kind of nefarious attempt to steal the election.
“There are several facts our viewers and readers should be aware,” host John Tabacco said on Monday, before debunking a long list of conspiratorial claims.
Fox News, suddenly worried about a defamation suit, forced to debunk its own false election claims Salon 12/21/2020 Lou Dobbs Fox Business
Fox News and Fox Business just aired multiple segments debunking false election claims made on their shows for weeks after the voting technology company Smartmatic recently threatened to sue the network along with fellow right-wing cable channels OANN and Newsmax for defamation.
Fox Business host Lou Dobbs and Fox News hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro aired the same segment debunking false claims that Smartmatic was involved in a scheme to switch votes from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden over the weekend. The segment comes in response to a new lawsuit threat from Smartmatic over several segments in which Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, and the hosts pushed the baseless conspiracy theory even though the company was not involved in any elections
December 21, 2020 3:14 p.m.
Newsmax on Monday became the second television operation to air a lengthy fact-check-style segment rebutting the conspiracy theories it’s aired for weeks about the 2020 election, after a voting machine manufacturer threatened them with legal consequences.
Newsmax, like Fox News, received a letter earlier this month from manufacturer Smartmatic threatening legal action unless the network retracted various “false and defamatory statements.”
Over the weekend, three shows on Fox News and Fox Business Network aired the same surreal interview with a voting machines expert that contradicted numerous past statements made on the shows.
Newsmax host John Tabacco, host of “Liquid Lunch,” did the dirty work himself on Monday.
Origin
On Dec. 19, 2020, outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that “The lie of the year is that Joe Biden won!” In the tweet, he tagged the conspiracy-minded, pro-Trump news outlet One America News Network (OANN):
President-elect Joe Biden was the winner of the November 2020 election, garnering at least 7 million more popular votes and 74 more electoral votes than Trump did. The Electoral College voted on Dec. 14, and all states have now certified their election results, officially cementing Biden’s victory.
In an increasingly desperate effort to cling to power, Trump and his supporters have aggressively pushed a disinformation campaign promoting the conspiracy theory that the election was beset by massive-scale voter fraud a claim debunked by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which called the 2020 election the “most secure in American history.”