Fox, Newsmax walk back voter fraud claims after lawsuit threat

News anchors on the two networks are clearing up their coverage, but some parties involved are sticking to their original statements

Fox News and Newsmax are backtracking statements they made regarding voting software companies Smartmatic and Dominion.

Both companies sent out letters to respective networks asking that they retract inaccurate allegations they have made regarding voter fraud. News anchors on the two networks are clearing up their coverage, but some parties involved are sticking to their statements, per Yahoo News.

Read More: Former Houston police captain arrested after tracking down man he thought masterminded voter fraud

On December 14, Smartmatic wrote a letter demanding justice against Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network for “publishing false and defamatory statements. ” The letter reads:

“The demand letters identify dozens of factually inaccurate statements made by each of the organizations as part of a “disinformation campaign” to injure Smartmatic and discredit the 2020 U.S. election.”

Voters In Super Tuesday States Cast Their Ballots
Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images

Newsmax host, John Tabacco, spoke on behalf of the network with the statement, “Newsmax would like to clarify its news coverage and note that it has not reported as true certain claims made about these companies.”

He added, “Newsmax has found no evidence that either Dominion or Smartmatic owns the other or has any business association with each other. We have no evidence that Dominion uses Smartmatic’s software or vice versa. No evidence has been offered that Dominion or Smartmatic use software or reprogram software that manipulated votes in the 2020 election.”

Read More: Over 1.4 million votes have already been cast in Georgia runoffs

Former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell accused the companies of collaborating with Democrats and the Venezuelan government to help President-elect Joe Biden win. Evidence supporting this claim has yet to be found.

Lou Dobbs of Fox Business Network brought Edward Perez, an expert from Open Source Election Technology Institute, on his show to clear up comments made about both voting machine companies.

He introduced his guest by saying, “There are lots of opinions about the integrity of the election, the irregularities of mail-in voting, of election voting machines and voting software.”

Perez answered each question thrown his way, proving there’s no concrete evidence that these companies played any part in voter fraud.

Although Dobbs and Fox News are seemingly retracting their initial takes on voter fraud, Powell is sticking to her original statements. A lawyer who represents Dominion sent a letter requesting she “retract her most serious and false accusations.” The company claims employees have been receiving threats due to her comments.

Lin Wood, the high-profile attorney representing Powell, responded in a letter with, “I have carefully reviewed your letter of December 15, 2020. I am not impressed. Ms. Powell retracts nothing. File your lawsuit.”

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