Newsmax Staffers Hit With Subpoenas in 2020 Election Defamation Suit

[Qutzupalotl]

Source: Rolling Stone

Newsmax Staffers Hit With Subpoenas in 2020 Election Defamation Suit

Court filings rife with internal communications exposed Fox News’ post-election misinformation push. Newsmax could be next

Diana Falzone • June 25, 2023

Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News laid bare how the network communicated behind the scenes about broadcasting 2020 election misinformation, ultimately leading the network to fork over a massive settlement. Newsmax could be next, as voting technology company Smartmatic has subpoenaed several of the right-wing cable network’s current and former employees for work and personal correspondence.

Several Newsmax insiders, who spoke with Rolling Stone under a condition of anonymity due to a fear of reprisal, said that roughly three weeks ago they were told to hand over “mirror images of their personal cell phone, personal email, and iCloud” as Smartmatic’s lawsuit against the network moves forward.

Smartmaric’s attorney J. Erik Connolly, Managing Chair of the Litigation Practice Group, at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLC tells Rolling Stone: “Smartmatic intends to pursue discovery from the current and former Newsmax employees who participated in the egregious disinformation campaign against the company. Some of the discovery has come, and will come, from the company. Smartmatic is pursuing these individuals to get the rest. Our complaint does not numerically specify the amount of damages we have suffered.”

Smartmatic claims in their lawsuit that Newsmax knowingly pushed falsehoods about the company following the 2020 presidential election. “Newsmax published and/or republished false statements and implications during news broadcasts, in online reports, and on social media that ‘Smartmatic participated in a criminal conspiracy’ to fix, rig, and steal the Election,” the defamation suit alleges.

Newsmax, which did not return Rolling Stone’s request for comment, initially pushed back on the Smartmatic defamation suit with a countersuit claiming it was an intimidation tactic. However, in February 2023 Smartmatic’s case was permitted to proceed, and Newsmax staffers are now being asked to hand over pertinent material.


Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/newsmax-subpoena-2020-election-defamation-lawsuit-1234777288/

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FAFO

[SouthernDem4ever]

1. Can we sue Newsmax for all the other falsehoods they push on the public?

[Chi67]

2. Sue!

Sue them out of existence!

[dchill]

3. Where the fake news meets the road.

[republianmushroom]

4. I like it

[RussBLib]

5. We could surely benefit from...

...one or two fewer disinformation channels. Our airwaves are chock-full of lies and disinformation, which simply cannot be a healthy thing for a/our democracy.

Hate radio needs to be cleaned up too. I have no problem with conservative voices, as long as they don't cross over into defamation, lies, misinformation and disinformation.

You should not need to lie to attract listeners and viewers.

[calimary]

7. That's been an intense yearning of mine ever since that damn limbaugh

rose to prominence. The best thing that bastard did was die. But he left an ant-swarm of mini-limbaughs behind like a microscopic plague for which there’s yet been no vaccination or remedy.

Those many little clones and limbaugh wannabes can still pose great danger to the rest of us.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

26. You are so right, Mary, and I appreciate the way you

said it! I especially love this no-nonsense line: The best thing that bastard did was die.

[calimary]

29. Thanks! When I was still working I tried seriously hard to sound objective on the air.

And write objectively. When you’re an anchor or reporter, seems to me you really have to do your utmost to “check your personal biases at the door”. A commentator or editorialist is a different animal altogether.

[The Grand Illuminist]

13. Conservative voices are anti-information

Plain and simple.

[Obvious85]

6. YES!

Hooray!

[Orrex]

8. I couldn't believe how bad Newsmax is

I did an hours-long job at a customer's home about a month ago, during which she sat at her kitchen table, staring unblinking at Newsmax as it droned from her laptop.

It's hard to believe that it wasn't deliberate parody, because it was so ridiculous and over-the-top, but it all streamed uninterrupted into her skull.

Newsmax is to Fox News what Fox News is to actual journalism.

[ificandream]

14. I like that comparison. :)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. This will be fun to watch

[Evolve Dammit]

15. It seems shame is no longer a thing for RWNJ's. It's just "alternate facts" ie. lies. Welcome!

[Evolve Dammit]

23. Yes it has been a long road of Orwellian insanity. And so many players and enablers.

[PatSeg]

11. Ooh, consequences!

Apparently they really do exist!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. Newsmax is for those who think Fox is too high brow

They REALLY dumb it down.

[Evolve Dammit]

16. 72 posts to go...!

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

24. They also give jobs to the human garbage jettisoned by Fox

like no-tie Eric Bolling.

[SWBTATTReg]

17. Every single American should receive something from these settlements, since it was our

voting for candidates that was negatively impacted. These news organizations need to be sued out of existence, since they made a mockery of our voting systems. Include tRUMP and the republicans too to pay out settlements too, since they were so willing to jump on the voting machine mishaps when such a thing never happened.

[GreenWave]

18. No to fascist news rags.

[Martin68]

20. Hunt them down one by one and hit them from every side, every angle.

[Hassler]

21. Hoover every last dime out of Newsmax.

[rpannier]

27. Newsmax is backed by the Mercers

I wonder if they can be hit as well

[Novara]

22. Sue them to oblivion!

[MerryBlooms]

25. Excellent. 😆

[calimary]

28. Sue Newsmax into total disappearance!

And OAN next!

Get RID of the fat-right bias that is passing itself off as “news coverage.”

Lookin’ at YOU, TOO, Pox Noise!