An election technology company has accused a pro-Donald Trump cable network of soliciting “stolen” passwords from hackers after the 2020 election, according to a new CNN report.
These accusations were levied in a civil defamation lawsuit against One America News, the channel on which ex-Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell falsely claimed the company Smartmatic had rigged election results to favor President Joe Biden, according to the report.
In court records reviewed by CNN, Smartmatic accused OAN of soliciting information from an anonymous tipster who offered up log-in info of their employees.
OAN denies defaming Smartmatic and lawyers say no one broke the law over alleged passwords, CNN reports.
A new court filing shows an email Smartmatic says landed in a generic OAN inbox the day before the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021 containing the “alleged passwords,” CNN reports.
OAN President Charles Herring responded to the tipster’s offer with thanks and a request for any other information they had, according to CNN’s report on court filings.
CNN notes it is “common for journalists to ask sources to provide information about people or companies they’re looking into,” but questioned Herring’s reported decision to send that information to Powell.
“Herring’s highly unorthodox decision to pass along the source’s materials to Powell, who was in Trump’s legal orbit, is yet another example of how OAN has repeatedly blurred the lines between bona fide journalism and brazen pro-Trump advocacy,” CNN writes.
But for Smartmatic, the problem is a spreadsheet of passwords they argue clearly appeared to be “uncovered through hacking activity,” CNN reports.
“This communication is one person providing illegally obtained information to another person,” Smartmatic’s lawyers reportedly wrote. “That is a crime, not a privileged communication.”
Read the full report here.
