Lawsuits arrive.
Dominion Voting Systems, one of the targets of President Donald Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about the election he lost, has warned Fox News, Fox’s top personalities, other conservative media, radio host Rush Limbaugh and conservative lawyers whose defamation lawsuits against them are “imminent.”
This week, the voting machine company has sent 21 letters to the White House, Fox News, its hosts Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Newsmax Media, One America News Network, Epoch Times and others to ask that stop making defamatory claims about Dominion, and keep any documents they have related to the company.
“We are writing to formally notify that litigation related to these issues is imminent,” Dominion attorneys Thomas Clare and Megan Meier wrote to Fox News Media attorney general Lily Fu Claffee in one of the letters that go be provided to CNBC.
In their letters to several news hosts, including Bartiromo, a former CNBC employee, the lawyers demanded that they “stop and stop making defamatory claims against Dominion,” saying that they had “filed and continue to file advocates for this campaign.” of misinformation against “. the company.
Among others who have received similar letters warning of future litigation and document preservation demands are Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and attorney L. Lin Wood, who has challenged the results of the presidential election in Georgia. , and Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly.
CNBC has requested comments on the letters from its recipients.
During an interview Thursday on CNN, Dominion CEO John Poulos said the company would take legal action against several people “promoting lies and spreading those lies … on various media platforms since election day.” .
“We won’t overlook anyone,” Poulos said, when asked if the company would sue Trump.
Trump since losing the national popular vote against Joe Biden by more than 7 million votes, has promoted a series of false claims to argue that he won the election in a staggered manner and that the ballot boxes for him were suppressed, while the votes for Biden were artificially added. in a handful of states where the results were particularly close.
On Nov. 12, just nine days after election day, Trump tweeted a statement that “DOMINION DELETES 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES THROUGHOUT THE NATION.”
One of the most ardent proponents of conspiracy theories about Dominion has been Sidney Powell, who last month was ripped from the team of lawyers working for Trump’s campaign to nullify Biden’s victory because the his extreme claims were widely criticized. Since last week, Powell has met with Trump at least once and visited the White House three times in connection with his efforts.
Dominion’s lawyers have also sent Powell a letter warning of defamation claims.
In his interview with CNN, Poulos said Powell’s claims that his company’s voting machine includes software created “under the direction” of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a right-wing media boogeyman, and that Dominion has ties to the Clinton Foundation and George Soros are “complete liars.”
Dominion security director Eric Coomer sued the campaign of Trump, Giuliani, Powell and several conservative media outlets.
Coomer’s lawsuit says he has become the target of death threats and other harmful communications because of the defendants’ false claims about Dominion’s machines.
On its website, Dominion has said that “misinformation” about the company poses a threat to democracy.
“Unfounded claims about the integrity of the system or the accuracy of the results have been dismissed by election authorities, subject matter experts and third-party fact-checkers,” the company says on its website.
“Malicious and misleading false claims about Dominion have provoked dangerous levels of threats and harassment against the company and its employees, as well as election officials.”
Last week, another voting machine company, Smartmatic, said it had issued legal notices and demanded withdrawal letters from Fox News, Newsmax and OAN “for publishing false and defamatory statements.”
“The letters of demand identify dozens of really inaccurate statements made by each of the organizations as part of a‘ disinformation campaign ’to hurt Smartmatic and discredit the 2020 US elections,” the company said at the time.
“Smartmatic had nothing to do with the‘ controversies ’that certain public and private figures have alleged about the 2020 US elections,” the company said. “Several fact-checkers have consistently rejected these false claims with impressive consistency and regularity.”
Smartmatic said that despite false claims to the contrary, “the company’s only participation in the United States in the 2020 election was as a manufacturing partner, systems integrator and software developer for the Los Angeles County voting system. “.