All posts tagged "Smartmatic"

Bret Baier – a veteran primetime host on Fox News — was apoplectic at President Donald Trump's refusal to concede his 2020 election loss, according to recently released text messages.

The Guardian's Jeremy Barr reported Monday on the text messages, which were released as part of voting machine company Smartmatic's lawsuit against the conservative news network. One exchange between Baier and an unnamed recipient was particularly noteworthy in that the broadcaster used profanity to describe his feelings in the wake of then-President-elect Joe Biden's win over Trump.

"I am tired. And p——. And running out of suits in NYC and there are no f—— bars open. Or casinos," Baier wrote several days after the election. "I may just tear some Trump campaign spokesperson's head off tomorrow. That speech tonight was heinous. Totally heinous."...

A co-founder of Smartmatic — the voting machine company that accused Fox News of defamation — was among three executives indicted Thursday in what federal prosecutors called a bribery and money laundering scheme connected to the 2016 election in the Philippines.

Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, 49, of Boca Raton, Florida, was indicted by a grand jury in Florida for his role in the scheme, along with Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, of Davie, Florida, and 60-year-old Juan Andres Donato Bautista.

Pinate was among three engineers who founded Smartmatic in the United States in 2000, the company said on its website.
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The $2.7 billion Smartmatic defamation lawsuit against Fox News for pushing conspiracy theories about their voting equipment during the 2020 presidential election is heating up — and right-wing media titan Rupert Murdoch has now been deposed in the case, reported The Washington Post on Friday.

"In recent weeks the Smartmatic case has stirred to life, putting Murdoch’s company once again in legal peril. Murdoch’s son Lachlan, who now runs the family’s media business, will also be deposed in the case, as will Fox’s former top lawyer, Viet D. Dinh, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to comment," reported Jeremy Barr.

This comes after Fox was forced to settle the similar $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for just under $800 million — an event that was swiftly followed by the surprise ouster of controversial Fox primetime host Tucker Carlson — as well as $12 million to settle a separate lawsuit by former Carlson producer Abby Grossberg, alleging she was subject to a hostile work environment and coerced into lying to Dominion lawyers....

Smartmatic voting systems in court filings Monday accused former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, of using “dog ate my homework”-type excuses top avoid turning over documents in a defamation case, CNN reports.

Smartmatic is suing Fox News and Giuliani, among others, in a $2.7 billion defamation suit over false claims about the 2020 election.

Smartmatic in its filing claimed that Giuliani “half-heartedly” performed searches for documents he was required to turn over, leading to deficient results. ...