Posted on 02/12/2021 9:40:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Three Fox News hosts — Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro — are seeking the dismissal of claims against them and their employer as part of a $2.7 billion libel lawsuit brought by the voting technology company Smartmatic.
Bartiromo, Dobbs and Pirro, as well as Donald Trump lawyers Rudolph Giuliani and Sidney Powell, were sued this month for the eye-popping amount by Smartmatic, which accused them of conspiring to spread false claims that the company was involved in an effort to steal the presidential election from Trump.
In its motions, lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis, which is also defending Fox, argue Bartiromo, Dobbs and Pirro were doing their job in covering the biggest story of the day: unprecedented allegations by the president that the integrity of the electoral process was marred by fraud.
Smartmatic in its 285-page complaint filed Feb. 4 in state court in New York had cited at least 13 reports on Fox News in which guests or personalities falsely stated or implied that the company had somehow helped steal the election through easily tampered technology or in cahoots with Venezuela’s socialist government.
The complaint alleged that the “disinformation campaign” continued even after then-Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice could find no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“Smartmatic is confident in its case and looks forward to briefing these issues for the Court,” J. Erik Connolly, attorney for Smartmatic, wrote Friday in a statement.
The lawsuit is being closely watched as the rise of far-right voices on social media and pro-Trump outlets like Newsmax and One America News challenge long-held assumptions about the limits of free speech.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
“The First Amendment protects the press when it informs the public about judicial proceedings regardless of the accuracy of the underlying allegations,” according to the motion filed on behalf of Dobbs.
On Dec. 18, all three hosts aired a segment with an expert debunking some of the claims that had been made on its networks against Smartmatic and another voting technology company, Dominion.
The Fox Business Network dropped Dobbs’ show Feb. 5, a day after the lawsuit was filed. The network said the move was part of a planned programming shift and not related to the lawsuit.
It is pretty obvious to me this company is filing the lawsuit to shut these people up, not to defend themselves, because I don’t think they can.
Well, defend themselves in a legal, just, and fair courtroom, that is.
That may be assuming or asking too much.
“... lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis...”
Let those lying frauds defend those New Hampshire discrepancies in Court.
“Fox Business Network dropped Dobbs’ show Feb. 5, a day after the lawsuit was filed. The network said the move was part of a planned programming shift and not related to the lawsuit.”
My not have been because of this lawsuit, but it was certainly because they didn’t like what he’d been saying.
Where, do you suppose, a “a legal, just, and fair courtroom” can be found?
If they were smart enough to steal the 2020 election, it is safe to assume that they are smart enough to steal a verdict!
...challenge long-held assumptions about the limits of free speech.
—
Excuse me? What limit? The right of Dems to silence viewpoints they don’t like?
I wish all three would move over to NewsMax.
Huh?
RE: I wish all three would move over to NewsMax.
Not so fast, NewsMax itself has been cowed into submission by the mere threat of a lawsuit from Dominion.
Heck one host even WALKED OUT of his interview with Mike Lindell when he started to bring up evidence of Voter Fraud.
There are so many weasel words in this one sentence. Maybe the technology wasn't easily tampered with.
It is not smart magic or dough minion that ought to be subject to prosecution verbally or otherwise. Rather it is those who took those machines and abused them in the interest of stealing an election. Call it “barking up the wrong tree.”
You did see my wording to specify that might be too much to ask...?
Bkmk
My agree! :)
It’s always “far-right”. Never just right or center-right.
And never “far-left”. Never.
This might get very interesting before it goes to the trial phase.
Yup.
The Dis-Associated Press would much rather drink poison than called the BLM/ANTIFA terrorists “far left”
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