Voting Machine Co. Pushing Back On False Claims

The right-wing propaganda allies of Sore Loser Donald "Mango Mussolini" Trump have amplified the crazy after his overwhelming defeat in November, feeding his "stolen election" mantra. In addition to election officials that have been subjected to insane personal attacks, the voting machines States have used have been central to the bizarre conspiracy theories that the Trump cult has been spinning to explain Mango Mussolini's ignominious loss. We've heard Dominion Voting Systems figure frequently in the lunatic lies, and now we're reading about a less visible company, Smartmatic, which was targeted by wingnuts on Fux. The problem for Fux is that Smartmatic is demanding retractions from Fux for "false and defamatory statements" about the company by today, and they have a good case for defamation if retractions aren't forthcoming:

"The statements identified in the letter to Fox News include a series of claims (like the allegation that Smartmatic is a Venezuelan company with ties to Chavez, and that it has ties to Dominion) seeking to support the broader conspiracy theory that voting systems were used to steal the election.

The firm said the network aired such claims despite being refuted by 'readily verifiable facts.'

Fox Business hosts [Maria] Bartiromo and [Lou] Dobbs have given ample air to claims supporting the conspiracy theory that Trump was the true winner of the November election, despite his campaign’s failures to prove so in court.

In an interview with Reuters, Antonio Mugica, the CEO of Smartmatic, said the baseless attacks from Trump and his allies have harmed the company’s reputation abroad.

'I don’t think there is one customer in the world that has not come back to us to tell us either that this is a problem and this could endanger our future relationship – for existing customers – or that this could endanger a potential new contract,' Mugica said."

The baseless smears of Dominion and Smartmatic by unhinged Trumpist toadies Rudy "Toot Toot" Giuliani and Sidney "Kraken Open" Powell on Fux make them vulnerable to defamation actions by Smartmatic and Dominion, and disbarment. When, as a media company, you recklessly destroy a company's (or industry's) reputation without any facts to back you up, you deserve to be put out of business yourself.