Dominion's 2020 election lawsuit against Newsmax to move forward, judge rules

ABC News ^ | June 17, 2022 | Olivia Rubin

[American Number 181269513]

As the Jan. 6 committee continues to lay out its evidence surrounding the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge on Thursday ruled that a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion -- a voting machine company at the heart of a number of "Big Lie" conspiracy theories -- against far-right news outlet Newsmax is allowed to proceed.

Judge Eric M. Davis denied Newsmax's motion to dismiss the $1.6 billion civil suit. In the original complaint filed in August, Dominion said Newsmax "helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where up is down, pigs have wings, and Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud to steal the presidency from Donald Trump by rigging the vote."

At the first Jan. 6 hearing last week, former Attorney General Bill Barr said the baseless allegations that Dominion machines switched votes from Joe Biden to Trump were "complete nonsense" and "amongst the most disturbing."

"I told them it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on it, and they were doing a great disservice to the country," Barr said of the Dominion conspiracy theories, which were consistently pushed by Trump and his allies. "I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations, but they were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing a lot of people."

Dominion has filed a number of defamation suits against those it says helped pushed the false accusations that it helped rig the 2020 election, including Rudy Giuliani and Fox News. Last year, a judge similarly denied requests from Giuliani, attorney Sidney Powell, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to throw out the Dominion suits against them.

Dominion, in its complaint against Newsmax, alleged that Newsmax "manufactured, endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion."

[American Number 181269513]

"We are confident that Newsmax will ultimately prevail given the strong First Amendment protections provided to ensure free speech and a free press."

I sure hope so.

[Soul of the South]

“We are confident that Newsmax will ultimately prevail given the strong First Amendment protections provided to ensure free speech and a free press.”

It would be better if Newsmax could prove their allegation against Dominion in court rather than simply prevail on the first amendment.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

This means Newsmax gets to take a Dominion machine apart and examine every digital bit, right?

[ridesthemiles]

DISCOVERY could make monkeys out of BARR & the J6 committee

[Socon-Econ]

It seems that Dominion is a public figure under 1st Amendment precedent, but Democrat judges respect precedent only when it helps Democrats.

[TChad]

I really wonder how this will play out. Will Dominion wind up owning My Pillow?

[Lazamataz]

Dominion needs consequences.

[Roccus]

I sure hope so

Not me!
Rather than hiding behind the First Amendment, I'd rather NewsMax et al take a deep dive into discovery and lay out all the evidence they have and/or WILL have to *prove* the truth of Dominion's complicity in the corrupt 2020 election.

To just invoke the First Amendment does our cause or nation no good whatever.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The judge did not allow Alex Jones to present a defense in the Newtown trial.

The same tactic will be employed on Newsmax and they will lose.

It is what happens when the “justice” system is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party.c

[Roadrunner383]

“It seems that Dominion is a public figure under 1st Amendment precedent,..”

Don’t know if you’ve seen the phony allegations by a Dem PAC that Lauren Boebert worked as a prostitute and had multiple abortions. She has rightly sued the PAC. You can’t say just anything you choose about a public figure (and I don’t know that a business would count as public figure in this sense).

[McGavin999]

Newsmax did nothing more than broadcast what others were saying.

[jacknhoo]

Judge is sure to issue gag orders first thing.

[HandBasketHell]

Dominion needs consequences.

This is why the Left is in a panic that Mastriano could win as governor of PA. He tried to investigate election fraud in the RINO-controlled legislature and Jake the Snake Corman shut him down.

Dems and RINOs will use the 2020 playbook to keep MAGA from becoming elected: Dems will cheat and RINO-controlled legislatures will look the other way. They can't risk any 2020 Dominion fraud or cheat-by-mail-in fraud being exposed, and so they will work together to keep the Uniparty intact.

RINOs would rather a Dem win than have 'their' party taken over by MAGA.

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[Dave Wright]

The heart of the matter is whether Dominion’s code base retains any of the logic that was part of Sequoia’s code. Sequoia was owned by Smartmatic from 2005 to 2007. Sequoia code was used in Chicago during this time an causes serious annomalies in their elections. Dominion bought Sequoia in 2010 which was 3 years after Smartmatic sold them.

If Dominion retained any code in their machines that was developed by Sequoia during the period when they were owned by Smartmatic it is impossible to rule out that this code was shared with the fraudulent Smartmatic machines uses in Venezuela by Hugo Chavez.

Unless Dominion has iron clad code change documentation that shows it was impossible for any code contamination, the speculation that Dominion Voting Systems had lineage from Smartmatic is a valid question for the news media to ask. The media only had the public corporate history to go on and not the code base so their assertions of potential vulnerable code is reasonable.

[Mr. K]

I don’t believe Dominion really want this lawsuit.

Discovery could prove all the election fraud charges.

[Boomer]

It is what happens when the “justice” system is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party.

From my reckoning there is no justice system at that point. Is there even a country?

[TChad]

So if Dominion does not permit its code to be inspected, this lawsuit will fail?

[nikos1121]

How did Biden get 81 million votes....?

[Observator]

I don’t believe Dominion really want this lawsuit.

Discovery could prove all the election fraud charges.

I agree with you that discovery will be decisive. Where I disagree is that by all indications, Dominion really wants this lawsuit and they've ruled out settlement.

Of the numerous voter fraud theories circling the bowl, voting software flipping votes is one of the nuttiest.