[Fox News has taken a further step back from Donald
Trump’s baseless allegations of election fraud with a bizarre
apparent legal retraction aired during shows hosted by some of the
president’s most fervent supporters.] [[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

FOX NEWS RETRACTS SMARTMATIC VOTING MACHINE FRAUD CLAIM IN STAGED
VIDEO  
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Richard Luscombe
December 20, 2020
The Guardian
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_ Fox News has taken a further step back from Donald
Trump’s baseless allegations of election fraud with a bizarre
apparent legal retraction aired during shows hosted by some of the
president’s most fervent supporters. _

Jeanine Pirro addresses a conservative event in Sydney last year. ,
Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

 

Fox News has taken a further step back from Donald Trump’s baseless
allegations of election fraud
[[link removed]] with
a bizarre apparent legal retraction aired during shows hosted by some
of the president’s most fervent supporters.

First broadcast on Fox Business on Friday, on Lou Dobbs Tonight, and
repeated over the weekend on shows hosted by Maria Bartiromo and
Jeanine Pirro, the segment was presented as a news interview with
election technology expert Eddie Perez
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In the three-minute video
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described as “a closer look at claims about Smartmatic
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an unidentified interviewer about a Florida company that provided
voting systems for the November election.

Perez is asked questions such as “Have you seen any evidence that
Smartmatic software was used to flip votes anywhere in the US in this
election?” and “Have you seen any evidence of Smartmatic sending
US votes to be tabulated in foreign countries?”

He says he has not seen any such evidence.

Earlier this week, Antonio Mugica, chief executive of
Smartmatic, sent legal notices
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Fox News and two other networks promoted by Trump, One America News
Network (OANN) and Newsmax, assailing them for spreading “false and
defamatory claims” in a “disinformation campaign”.

“They have no evidence to support their attacks on Smartmatic
because there is no evidence,” Mugica said in a statement
[[link removed]].
“This campaign was designed to defame Smartmatic and undermine
legitimately conducted elections.”

Trump lost the election to Joe Biden by 306-232 in the electoral
college and trails by more than 7m ballots in the popular vote. But
his false claims of voter fraud and irregularities in voting systems
and technology have received sympathetic hearings on the three
rightwing networks.

The Fox News [[link removed]] interview
with Perez was described by a network source as “a fact-checking
segment aired in the same format” as original reporting about
Smartmatic.

Speaking to CNN, Perez said: “My reaction was to observe, as many
others have, how kind of strange and unique that particular way at
presenting the facts was.

“There was nothing in any of the preliminary conversations that I
had with Fox News that gave me any indication that Smartmatic would be
a matter of conversation. It was never mentioned that this was going
to be a discussion about Smartmatic or even claims about private
vendors. I was anticipating a broader discussion about the debate
around the election [and] election integrity.”

Perez said Fox News’ coverage of the election was “speculative and
not based in fact” and conspiracy theories peddled by hosts were
“harmful to enhancing public confidence in the legitimacy of
election outcomes”.

“I am not accustomed to seeing Lou Dobbs air very straightforward
factual evidence,” he said.

A Fox News spokesperson declined comment. Earlier, the network
referred CNN back to the video.

Erik Connolly, an attorney for Smartmatic, said the company would not
comment “due to potential litigation”.

In a statement to CNN, Newsmax denied making direct claims of
impropriety against Smartmatic and said questions about the company
and its software were based on “legal documents or previously
published reports”.

“As any major media outlet,” Newsmax said, “we provide a forum
for public concerns and discussion. In the past we have welcomed
Smartmatic and its representatives to counter such claims they believe
to be inaccurate and will continue to do so.”

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