Dominion Voting sued Fox News for defamation over election fraud claims: What we know
then-President Donald Trump had lost the race to Joe Biden, allies of the former president began claiming without evidence that the election had been stolen.
Dominion Voting Systems, a private voting machine manufacturer, became central to those claims, which asserted that the company conspired with Democrats to rig the election against Trump.
In 2021, Dominion filed a series of defamation lawsuits against key election deniers, suggesting their unfounded claims caused “severe damage” to the company.
“These lies also have threatened the personal safety of our employees and customers,” Dominion CEO John Poulos said after filing one of the lawsuits. “No amount of money will repair the damage done.”
Here’s what we know.
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What is the background?
Unfounded claims that Trump, not Biden, won the election began spreading online and on air before the race between the two candidates had even been called.
right-wing targets for purportedly helping steal the race. False claims that the company was tied to top Democrats or that its machines switched and deleted Trump votes, flipping key races, gathered hundreds of thousands of interactions online.
The lawsuits claim several high-profile, right-wing media groups and individuals helped amplify those claims.
Fox News hosts privately shot down Trump’s ‘big lie’ over election fraud
Who is being sued?
- Fox News and Fox Corporation
- One American News Network
- Newsmax
- Patrick Byrne, former head of Overstock
- Rudy Giuliani, Trump attorney
- Sidney Powell, former Trump lawyer
- Mike Lindell, MyPillow founder and chief executive officer
What do the lawsuits say?
Dominion in March 2021 filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, for allegedly making and amplifying false claims deliberately about Dominion and the 2020 election. The voting machine manufacturer asserts that the “lies were good for Fox’s business,” and that legal action followed repeated demands for retractions.
filed suit against OAN and Newsmax, accusing the conservative news outlets of allegedly promoting 2020 election fraud claims, despite knowing they were untrue.
The lawsuits against Byrne, Giuliani, Powell and Lindell make similar allegations.
More:Dominion Voting sues Fox for $1.6 billion over false 2020 election fraud claims
Revelations from the lawsuits
Court filings in the case against Fox News revealed that top executives and news hosts privately shared they did not buy into Trump’s allegations of 2020 election fraud, despite giving airtime to many of those same false claims.
“Privately, Fox’s hosts and executives knew that Donald Trump lost the election and that he needed to concede,” the filing reads. “But Fox viewers heard a different story — repeatedly.”
A Fox spokesperson said Dominion mischaracterized the record and “cherry-picked” quotes from “key context.”
What do the parties being sued say?
- A Fox spokesperson told USA TODAY last month that press freedom and freedom of speech – which are “fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan” – are at the core of the Dominion case.
- OAN and Newsmax filed motions to dismiss Dominion’s lawsuits against them, but efforts by the two conservative networks were both denied. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis ruled that it was “reasonably conceivable” that Dominion had a claim for defamation against Newsmax.
- Giuliani, Powell and Lindell motioned to dismiss the cases against them, but U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols rejected those requests. Powell and Lindell also filed countersuits alleging an abuse of justice and violation of First Amendment rights, both of which were tossed out by Nichols.
Dig deeper:
- Fox lawsuit: Dominion Voting sues Fox for $1.6 billion over false 2020 election fraud claims
- Right-wing media lawsuits: Dominion sues OAN, Newsmax, ex-Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne for $1.6 billion over voter fraud claims
- Giuliani lawsuit: Dominion Voting Systems sues Rudy Giuliani for $1.3B alleging defamation for election comments
- Powell lawsuit: Dominion Voting Systems files $1.3B defamation suit against ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell
- Lindell lawsuit: Dominion Voting Systems sues MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell
- Court filings: ‘Shockingly reckless’: Fox News hosts privately shot down Trump’s ‘big lie’ over election fraud
- Fact check:What’s true about the 2020 election, vote counting, Electoral College