Conservative network Newsmax was hit with another legal grenade this week over its false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. On Wednesday, voting machine company Smartmatic filed a lawsuit alleging it was defamed by Newsmax reports that its devices were used to turn the ballots of Trump supporters into votes for Joe Biden. Smartmatic, which is also in legal battles with One America News and Fox News, is seeking an unspecified sum in monetary damages. The company claims that the accusations made on Newsmax and elsewhere have impaired its ability to do business and have led to threats against its employees. “Newsmax had no evidence to support what its anchors had been saying,” the company wrote in its court filing, adding that the network “published dozens of reports indicating that Smartmatic participated in a criminal conspiracy to rig and steal the 2020 U.S. election.”
Newsmax responded to the suit by claiming that it “reported accurately on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the president, his advisors and members of Congress, as well as reporting on Smartmatic’s claims in its defense.” The network, which purports that it has not yet received or reviewed the filing, accused Smartmatic of attempting “to squelch the rights of a free press.” Late last year, the network attempted to walk back the election-fraud theories that had been circulating on its airwaves for weeks, with Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy saying there was “no evidence that the [election] software was manipulated in any way” and asserting that his hosts––rather than personally endorsing the claims––were simply repeating what Trump’s allies believed. In December, Newsmax acknowledged there is no evidence to prove that Smartmatic altered votes, while anchor John Tabacco attempted to “clarify” the network’s position by describing Smartmatic as “a U.S. company and not owned by the Venezuelan government.” (At least one Newsmax guest, Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, had claimed that the late Hugo Chávez supposedly had a hand in Smartmatic’s creation.)
By now, the backpedal is familiar for Newsmax, which performed a similar maneuver this week. One of its reporters, White House correspondent Emerald Robinson, had claimed that COVID vaccines “contain a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked. Read the last book of the New Testament to see how this ends.” Newsmax executive vice president and chief content officer Elliot Jacobson moved to rebut Robinson’s since-deleted tweet, saying in a statement on Tuesday that Newsmax “strongly believes and has reported that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.” He also noted that there is “no evidence to suggest LUCIFERASE or LUCIFERIN are present in any vaccines or that they are used as any sort of bioluminescent marker.”
In addition to controversy, Newsmax continues to attract pundits tossed aside by its competitors. Former GOP senator Rick Santorum, who left his role as a CNN commentator in May after making offensive comments about Native Americans, announced on Tuesday that he is joining the network as a senior political analyst. “In just a short time, Newsmax has exponentially grown its viewership, establishing itself as a leading, unfiltered news source for hard-working Americans who are looking for reporting and commentary that speaks to their traditional American values,” the former Pennsylvania lawmaker said in a statement. “I am looking forward to bringing my common-sense, blue-collar conservative voice to Newsmax and their viewers.”
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