Fledgling pro-Trump cable-news network Newsmax ran a point-by-point debunking of numerous election-fraud conspiracies about voting software company Smartmatic on Monday, days after the firm issued a threat of legal action and demand for retraction over the network peddling falsehoods about the company.
In two separate segments during Monday’s broadcast of John Bachman Now, hosts John Bachman and John Tabacco both issued lengthy statements offering fact-checks about claims made that Smartmatic was involved in an international conspiracy to flip millions of votes from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden.
“Since Election Day various guests, attorneys, and elected officials have appeared on Newsmax and offered opinions and claims about Smartmatic and Dominion systems. Both companies that offer voting software in the U.S.,” the statement began. “And Newsmax would like to clarify its news coverage and note that it has not reported as true certain claims made about these companies.”
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From there, both hosts noted that their viewers “should be aware of Newsmax has found no evidence that either Dominion or Smartmatic owns the other or has any business association with each other,” assertions that have been repeated consistently by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
“We have no evidence that Dominion uses Smartmatic software or vice versa,” the fact-check continued. “No evidence has been offered that Dominion or Smartmatic used software or reprogrammed software that manipulated votes in the 2020 election. Smartmatic has stated that its software was only used in the 2020 election in Los Angeles, was not used in any battleground state contested by the Trump campaign. Newsmax has no evidence to the contrary.”
The statement concluded by pointing out that Newsmax also has no proof that Dominion or Smartmatic have any relationship with liberal philanthropist George Soros and that Smartmatic is not owned by long-deceased Venezuelan dictator Huge Chavez.
“Smartmatic states it has no operations in Venezuela,” the hosts declared. “While the company did election projects in Venezuela from 2004 to 2017, it states it never was founded by Hugo Chavez, nor did it have a corrupt relationship with him or the Venezuelan government.”
Powell and other Trump allies have insisted, without any evidence whatsoever, that Chavez, Soros and Smartmatic were involved in a shadowy plot to “steal” the election from Trump by using algorithms to change Trump votes to Biden. Powell’s various “Kraken” lawsuits have been tossed out of state and federal courts around the country.
Newsmax also quietly published the statement on its website over the weekend. Newsmax’s on-air fact-checks of the wild claims made on its own network follow Fox News airing a similar debunking of the Smartmatic election fraud conspiracies on three of its programs over the weekend.
While Smartmatic’s lawyers have sent forceful letters to Fox News, Newsmax and One America News demanding that they clear the company’s name and prepare for legal action, Dominion Voting Systems has issued a similar threat to the Trump campaign and Powell. First Amendment lawyers, meanwhile, believe that both companies have “extremely powerful” cases.
“The repeated accusations against both companies are plainly defamatory and surely have done enormous reputational and financial harm to both,” famed attorney Floyd Abrams told the New York Times on Sunday.
