Dominion Voting Sues Newsmax, One America News Network Over 2020 Election Fraud Claims
14:53 GMT 10.08.2021 (Updated: 13:22 GMT 06.08.2022)
© AP Photo / John Bazemore
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Lawyers for the Dominion Voting Systems company have filed lawsuits against conservative US news outlets Newsmax and One America News (OAN) Network and businessman Patrick Byrne over unsubstantiated 2020 election fraud claims, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Today, legal representatives for Dominion Voting Systems filed defamation complaints against Newsmax Media Inc. in the Superior Court of Delaware, and against Herring Networks Inc. — owner of One America News (OAN) Network — and Patrick Byrne in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia," the statement read.
Court documents show complaint against the OAN Network also includes names of Herring Networks owners Robert Herring and Charles Herring, as well as One America News Network personalities Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb, the statement added.
Dominion lawyer Stephen Shackelford, in the statement, claimed that the three groups of defendants pushed false claims that the voting apparatus company was behind widespread irregularities in the 2020 presidential vote, which saw Joe Biden edge out Donald Trump to clinch the Oval Office.
"As detailed in our complaints, OAN, Newsmax, and Patrick Byrne have knowingly and continuously sold the false story of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, with Dominion cast as the villain, severely injuring Dominion in the process," Shackelford said. "Newsmax and OAN both endorsed, repeated, broadcast, and amplified a series of verifiably false lies about Dominion to serve their own commercial purposes."
Shackelford also accused Byrne of bankrolling and promoting a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion.
"We are suing to set the record straight, to vindicate Dominion's rights, to hold the Defendants accountable, and to recover damages for the devastating economic harm done to Dominion's business," he added.
The complaint against OAN noted that the network spread false information about Dominion by broadcasting and promoting interviews with "discredited figures", including Byrne, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, lawyer Sidney Powell and the controversial CEO of the MyPillow company Michael Lindell.
"OAN’s coverage of Dominion was dishonest and false. OAN caused tremendous harm to Dominion," the complaint said.
Another complaint accused Newsmax of manufacturing and broadcasting "verifiably false" information about Dominion.
"If Newsmax cared about the truth - if it cared about informing (rather than deceiving) its viewers - it would identify for its viewers each specific lie it broadcast, promoted, and endorsed in November and December 2020, tell its viewers in no uncertain terms that those lies were false, and explain to its viewers all the voluminous evidence debunking those lies," the document said.
Following the 2020 presidential election, former US President Donald Trump declared that his victory was stolen via massive fraud and acts of impropriety. His legal team accused the Smartmatic software company and the Dominion Voting Systems, of participation in a fraudulent scheme to ensure his failure in the election.
