MIAMI — Voting technology company Smartmatic is suing Fox News, three of its top hosts, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped steal the U.S. presidential election away from former President Donald Trump.
According to the lawsuit, Fox News and its hosts allegedly aired 13 reports falsely stating or implying that Smartmatic stole the 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuela's socialist government. Fox hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro are listed in the lawsuit as having "directly benefitted" from their involvement in the conspiracy, according to the Associated Press.
A Smartmatic rival, Dominion Voting Systems, was also ensnared in Trump's baseless effort to overturn the election, and on Jan. 25 sued former Trump lawyers Giuliani and Powell for $1.6 billion. While Dominion systems were used in dozens of states in the U.S. election, Smartmatic was only used in heavily-Democratic Los Angeles County.
Dominion has also issued preservation noticesto Fox News and several other conservative media outlets, a move that could signal further legal action.
