Antonio Mugica, CEO of Smartmatic, poses near the Parliament House in London, UK on December 11, 2020. Picture taken on December 11, 2020.
Henry Nichols | Reuters
Smartmatic, an election technology company embroiled in unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about voting in the 2020 presidential election, said Monday it would issue legal notices to three conservative media outlets seeking to back down on “false and defamatory statements.”
The Florida-based company is being targeted by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who is spearheading the Trump campaign’s long-term efforts to thwart Joe Biden’s planned presidential victory.
In a statement to Smartmatic, Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network clarify that the company has “set aside all its legal rights and solutions, including its right to pursue defamation and defamation claims.”
A legal statement to Fox, shared with CNBC, accused the news agency of “engaging in a concerted false campaign against SmartMade”.
That 20-page letter cites dozens of claims, most of which were made by Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell in Fox’s air, who had previously joined the campaign and filed several failed lawsuits alleging fraud in the key swing states that Biden won.
Most of those statements were made at shows hosted by Maria Partiro or Lou Tops in mid-November, both of which have been accused of making their own defamatory claims about Smartmatic. In addition, the letter includes statements made on a Fox project hosted by Jeanine Birro and a report by Fox host Jesse Waters.
“This is the first in a series of actions we have taken to protect our company against unsubstantiated attacks aimed at damaging our reputation as a means of undermining confidence in the election results,” Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica told CNBC in a statement.
“We stand to lose billions of dollars in business in the coming years due to these unsubstantiated attacks on our company,” Mugika’s statement said.
According to the FAQ page, Smartmatic Advisor will send letters to Giuliani and Powell, a company spokesman said, which will be posted on its website soon.
Smartmatic has been accused of colluding with Dominion voting software to deceive supporters of Biden in the November presidential election.
The company has denied that contact. “There is no relationship between Dominion voting systems and Smartmatic – clear and simple,” the company said on its website’s Verification page. Although Dominion software will be used in many states and counties in the 2020 election, SmartMatic says it will only run in Los Angeles County.
Dominion has denied various claims against it. Trump in particular raised suspicions about Dominion in a 46-minute video released on his social media in early December.
“After all, we have a very suspicious company. Its name is Dominion. With a dial or a chip change, you can press a button for Trump and the ballot goes to Biden. What kind of a system is this?” Trump said in the video.
Despite the loss of dozens of court battles by his campaign and allies, the president has refused to acknowledge Pita, including a recent loss to the US Supreme Court in an attempt to thwart the election. Trump is lying that he won the race just a few days ago on Monday, when Election College voters began voting in their respective states to formalize Biden’s victory.
Smartmatic’s letter to Fox is linked to corruption in Venezuela and identifies a number of claims and implications as “false and defamatory”, including that the company sent US votes overseas.
The letter to Fox states that Smartmatic “has no involvement in the scheduling and results reporting process” and that “the technology is not controlled by a server located outside the United States and no votes are sent outside the United States.”
The founders of Smartmatic were born in Venezuela, but the company was founded in Boca Raton, Florida, and says it has no current operations in Venezuela.
“Fox News has no right to slander my client when it covers the 2020 U.S. election,” said Jones, a lawyer at Benz Law. Eric Connolly said in the letter.
“Smartmatic demands the complete and complete withdrawal of all false and defamatory statements,” Connolly wrote, adding that “such retreat should be done with the same seriousness and coverage you used to defame the company in the first place.”
“This letter serves as a notification of legal claims against Fox News, its reporters, announcers, producers and my client’s flight guests.”
Spokesmen for Fox and OAN did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for smart action. Powell, Giuliani and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Newsmax said in a statement that “Newsmax has never said anything wrong about Smartmatic, its rights or software.”
“Individuals, including plaintiffs’ attorneys, congressmen and others, have raised questions about Newsmax about the company and its voting software, citing previously published statements about legal documents or Smartmatic,” Newsmax said in a statement.
“As any major media outlet, we provide a forum for public concerns and discussions. We welcome and continue to do so in the past to counter such claims that Smartmatic and its representatives believe to be false.”
In a statement issued Monday morning, Mugika said all three news organizations “have no evidence to support attacks on SmartMatic because there is no evidence.”
“This campaign is an attack on electoral systems and electoral workers, to undermine confidence in future elections and to oppose the will of the electorate, not only here, but against democracies around the world,” the statement said.