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How Newsmax spread conspiracy theories about Smartmatic in 2020

Written by Helena Hind & Jane Lee

Published

Smartmatic’s defamation case against Newsmax, which accuses the right-wing cable channel of spreading conspiracy theories about the voting technology company for profit and consequently damaging its reputation, is slated to begin soon. 

After right-wing media competitor Fox News unexpectedly but accurately called Arizona for Joe Biden during the 2020 election, Newsmax seized an opportunity to attract conservative viewers by spreading conspiracy theories about the vote, including about Smartmatic. Smartmatic alleges Newsmax knew these conspiracy theories were untrue but continued to circulate them for the sake of profit. (Fox is embroiled in a lawsuit over its own conspiracy theories about Smartmatic and settled with another voting technology company, Dominion Voting Systems, last year.)

Below are details about the case and some examples of the conspiracy theories Newsmax told about Smartmatic:

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  • Smartmatic has sued Newsmax for defamation over airing false election fraud claims implicating the company

    • As reported by The Washington Post, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy “sensed a business opportunity” after Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden during its 2020 election night coverage, which prompted Newsmax to spread election conspiracy theories in an effort to juice its ratings and resulted in legal action by Smartmatic and Dominion. Newsmax’s ratings “surged” after the network repeated Trump’s election conspiracy theories, which had also been promoted by Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, “and then Trump, in turn, lavished praise on Newsmax while publicly castigating Fox.” The strategy was short-lived; in December, Smartmatic and Dominion sent legal demand letters to Newsmax, Fox, and OAN warning the networks to retract their false coverage, prompting Newsmax to issue “a lengthy ‘clarification’ that debunked its own reporting, noting that the company ‘would like to clarify its news coverage and note it has not reported as true certain claims’ made about the two firms.” Newsmax anchors read the statements on air. [The Washington Post, 5/6/21, 12/21/20]
    • Smartmatic filed a defamation suit against Newsmax on November 3, 2021, alleging that the network spread false but popular election fraud claims implicating the voting technology company “in a bid to challenge Fox News from the right.” From The Washington Post: “Smartmatic says the claims it challenges as false include that Smartmatic voter software was more widely used than it actually was; that its technology was compromised during the election; that Smartmatic was founded in Venezuela to serve nefarious foreign interests; and that ‘Smartmatic fixed, rigged, and stole the 2020 U.S. election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.’” [The Washington Post, 11/4/21]
    • In May 2024, lawyers for Smartmatic accused Newsmax of destroying evidence that showed the network knew claims of voter fraud were untrue. MSNBC correspondent Sarah Fitzpatrick reported: “The filing references specific texts that were sent by the CEO and others at the company that it claims were deleted and that the company became aware of these communications because they showed up in other potential witnesses' electronic material. Smartmatic says that the deletions occurred after Newsmax employees had notice to preserve the evidence for a pending suit, which was a major no-no in, you know, legal circles. Newsmax told NBC News that they categorically deny all the allegations in the filing.” [MSNBC, Chris Jansing Reports, 5/22/24]
    • CNN reported that during an August pre-trial hearing, a Smartmatic attorney “cited several instances of employees of the cable network admitting they had no proof of the election fraud claims” that they pushed on air. From CNN: “The attorney said that ‘some of the hosts were privately expressing doubt about the claims and accusations’ against Smartmatic as they were being promoted on the network’s air. Several of the network’s hosts, he said, never believed them and were ‘joking about the accusations in their text messages’ with one another.” Weeks after the hearing, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that the case would proceed to trial. [CNN, 8/22/24, 9/13/24]

  • Newsmax repeatedly spread Smartmatic conspiracy theories after the 2020 election

    • Newsmax analyst Dick Morris: Election fraud “may well have originated in the Dominion software, in the Smartmatic software that the polling people, voting people used.” [Media Matters, 12/22/20]
    • Newsmax host Chris Salcedo, citing Powell’s conspiracy theories: “There’s only one reason why you buy a Dominion machine and you buy this Smartmatic software:  so you can easily change votes.” [Newsmax, The Chris Salcedo Show, 11/18/20]
    • Newsmax correspondent Emerald Robinson claimed that Smartmatic software was used to “fix elections in Venezuela” for Hugo Chávez, while Salcedo said the software comes with a “directive” on how to change election results. From The Washington Post: “Smartmatic has pointed to a Nov. 17, 2020, remark by Newsmax correspondent Emerald Robinson, who falsely asserted that ‘Smartmatic software is what was used by Hugo Chávez and his successors to fix elections in Venezuela,’ and a comment made by Newsmax host Chris Salcedo, who said that Smartmatic software comes with a ‘directive’ on ‘how you change the results’ of an election.” [The Washington Post, 9/20/24]
    • Morris: “The Dominion software is licensed from Smartmatic, which is [a] Venezuelan-owned and -controlled company. So we’re dealing here with the most incredible kind of systemic fraud.” Morris added that “this is the exact same system they’re using in Georgia on January 5,” the date of an upcoming runoff election. [Newsmax, American Agenda, 12/15/20]
    • Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne said on Newsmax that there were Chinese, Pakistani, Iranian, Venezuelan, and Cuban “fingerprints” all over Smartmatic in an effort to “destroy our election system to take us down.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 12/17/20]
    • Morris: “Actual intervention in the vote count … through Dominion software and Smartmatic” has “been proven in one county in Michigan.” [Newsmax, American Agenda, 12/18/20]