Newsmax aired a fact-check of a handful of election-related conspiracy theories after one company subject to the unsubstantiated claims threatened to sue the network for promoting the claims.
During a segment on John Bachman Now Monday, John Tabacco offered the fact-check, focusing on the theories surrounding two companies that participated in the election — Dominion Voting and Smartmatic. Both have demanded a handful of conservative outlets to retract claims made about their respective companies.
“Since Election Day, various guests, attorneys, and election officials have appeared on Newsmax and offered opinions and claims about Smartmatic and Dominion Systems,” he said. “Both companies offer voting software in the U.S., and Newsmax would like to clarify its news coverage and note that it has not reported as true certain claims made about these companies.”
Tabacco went into specifics, noting the outlet had “no evidence” to support a handful of theories that have permeated pro-Trump circles.
“There are several facts our viewers should be aware of,” he said. “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 software or vice versa. No evidence has been offered that Dominion or Smartmatic used software or reprogrammed software that manipulated votes in the 2020 election.”
He noted that Smartmatic was only used in Los Angeles, California, and not “in any battleground state contested by the Trump campaign,” to which he said the outlet “has no evidence to the contrary.” Tabacco also addressed a handful of supposed ties the two companies have with influential Democrats.
“Dominion has stated it has no ownership relationship with the Pelosi family, the Feinstein family, the Clinton family, Hugo Chavez, or the government of Venezuela. Neither Dominion or Smartmatic has any relationship with George Soros. Smartmatic is a U.S. company and not owned by the Venezuelan government, Hugo Chavez, or any foreign official or entity,” he said.
Newsmax had embraced President Trump’s refusal to concede the election and subsequent claims that it was stolen from him in an effort to siphon off Fox News viewers who grew disgruntled with their coverage of President-elect Joe Biden. The outlet did not call the election for Biden until the Electoral College voted to affirm Biden last week.
Tabacco’s fact-check of conspiracy theories came roughly a week after Smartmatic demanded Newsmax, One America News Network, and Fox News issue retractions for their claims.
The letter to Fox News, obtained by the Washington Examiner at the time, referenced a litany of statements from Trump campaign attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis made on-air while singling out Fox Business anchors Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs for their comments about Smartmatic. The two of them, and Jeanine Pirro, aired identical fact-checks to one another about the conspiracy theories that they had been accused of promoting.
Dominion has also demanded Trump campaign-adjacent lawyer Sidney Powell retract her claims alleging the company affected the results of the 2020 presidential election. They demanded she publicly retract her “wild, knowingly baseless and false accusations” about the company’s voting machines, which they say were “predicated on lies” that have “endangered Dominion’s business and the lives of its employees.”
Powell has promoted a handful of theories since Biden won the election. She has filed lawsuits, nicknamed the Kraken, in some battleground states that the former vice president won that have widely failed in the courts. Some of those allegations include that the voting machines are the same kind used in Venezuela during the Hugo Chavez regime; they have the capability of switching votes secretly; and that there is an illegal vote-changing scheme in U.S. politics that members of both parties have participated in.
President Trump has contemplated naming Powell a special counsel to investigate claims of voter fraud, according to the New York Times, even though the campaign previously distanced themselves from her.
