Staff at the far-right Trumpist propaganda channel Newsmax will be next in line for document and communications discovery over lies about the 2020 election. Rolling Stone reports that a number of Newsmax staff have been served subpoenas in connection with their role in the Malignant Loser's Big Lie campaign to undermine the election and to spread defamatory lies about its "rigged" election equipment:
"Several Newsmax insiders, who spoke with Rolling Stone under a condition of anonymity due to a fear of reprisal, said that roughly three weeks ago they were told to hand over “mirror images of their personal cell phone, personal email, and iCloud” as Smartmatic’s lawsuit against the network moves forward.
Smartmaric’s attorney J. Erik Connolly, Managing Chair of the Litigation Practice Group, at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, LLC tells Rolling Stone: “Smartmatic intends to pursue discovery from the current and former Newsmax employees who participated in the egregious disinformation campaign against the company. Some of the discovery has come, and will come, from the company. Smartmatic is pursuing these individuals to get the rest. Our complaint does not numerically specify the amount of damages we have suffered.”
Smartmatic claims in their lawsuit that Newsmax knowingly pushed falsehoods about the company following the 2020 presidential election. 'Newsmax published and/or republished false statements and implications during news broadcasts, in online reports, and on social media that ‘Smartmatic participated in a criminal conspiracy’ to fix, rig, and steal the Election,' the defamation suit alleges." (our emphasis)
After Dominion Voting Systems' blockbuster $787 million judgement against the lie-spewing Fox "News" channel in April, Newsmax had to be in meltdown mode anticipating the cost of their defamation in service to the Malignant Loser, who to this day continues to claim the 2020 election was "rigged" and has suffered no penalty for that Big Lie. Smartmatic has suits pending against Fox and OANN. Dominion is also suing Newsmax for defamation.
(photo: Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)
