{"id":2437508,"date":"2025-05-21T14:24:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fox-news-notches-big-win-against-smartmatic-as-appeals-court-grants-access-to-damning-insider-info\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T14:25:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:25:51","slug":"fox-news-notches-big-win-against-smartmatic-as-appeals-court-grants-access-to-damning-insider-info","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fox-news-notches-big-win-against-smartmatic-as-appeals-court-grants-access-to-damning-insider-info\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox News Notches Big Win Against Smartmatic as Appeals Court Grants Access to Damning Insider Info"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffox-news-notches-big-win-against-smartmatic-as-appeals-court-grants-access-to-damning-insider-info%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2437508&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Fox News is currently engaged in a defamation lawsuit with Smartmatic Voting Systems, which has gained traction as Fox&#8217;s legal team has been granted access to materials related to a federal bribery indictment involving Smartmatic&#8217;s executives. These materials pertain to allegations that the executives paid over $1 million in bribes to a philippine official to influence the selection of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/update-corrupted-software-that-stole-6000-votes-from-trump-in-michigan-county-shut-down-for-two-hours-in-red-counties-in-georgia-on-election-day\/\" title=\"Update: Corrupted Software that Stole 6,000 Votes From Trump in Michigan County -- Shut Down for TWO HOURS in Red Counties in Georgia on Election Day\">voting machines<\/a> used in the country&#8217;s 2016 elections. The implicated executives have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News contends that the bribery charges are relevant to its defense,arguing that Smartmatic&#8217;s reputation and business were already suffering for reasons unrelated to Fox&#8217;s coverage of the 2020 election. In its filings, Fox claims that Smartmatic&#8217;s financial difficulties predated any damage from its reporting. Conversely, Smartmatic accuses Fox of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >destroying evidence pertinent<\/a> to the case and alleges that top executives, including Rupert Murdoch, engaged in willful destruction of texts to evade accountability.<\/p>\n<p>smartmatic is pursuing $2.7 billion in damages, claiming that Fox&#8217;s reporting harmed its business. The outcome of this lawsuit follows a recent significant settlement by Fox News in another defamation case involving Dominion Voting Systems, where Fox paid $787.5 million over claims of damaging coverage in the aftermath of the 2020 election.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fox News lawyers fighting off a defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic Voting Systems have been granted access to new ammunition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last week, Fox was granted access to materials connected with a 2024 federal bribery indictment concerning company co-founder and president Roger Pi&ntilde;ate and other company executives, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/fox-news-granted-access-to-smartmatic-bribery-indictment-materials\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Wrap<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Justice Department has alleged that more than $1 million in bribes went from company executives to a Philippine official in an attempt to influence which voting machines were used in the nation&rsquo;s 2016 elections, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdfl\/pr\/four-men-charged-philippine-bribery-and-money-laundering-scheme\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Justice Department news release.<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those charged have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/fox-news-faces-huge-new-lawsuit-look-behind\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox<\/a> claimed that the charges are relevant to its defense because Smartmatic was suffering for reasons other than Fox&rsquo;s coverage of the 2020 election, according to The Wrap.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;We are pleased with the Court&rsquo;s ruling that materials about Smartmatic executives&rsquo; indictments are &lsquo;plainly relevant&rsquo; to its lack of damages. The factual evidence shows that Smartmatic&rsquo;s business and reputation were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/smartmatic-must-share-criminal-bribery-docs\/\" title=\"Smartmatic Must Share Criminal Bribery Docs\">badly suffering long<\/a> before any claims by President Trump&rsquo;s lawyers on Fox News,&rdquo; Fox said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a separate filing calling for summary judgment in its favor, Fox argued that Smartmatic&rsquo;s sales had &ldquo;cratered&rdquo; before the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fox &nbsp;sought to undercut Smartmatic&rsquo;s claim that it was damaged by saying that the company&rsquo;s books show &ldquo;no profit record to serve as a basis for projecting millions of dollars in future profits.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smartmatic fired back against Fox News in a separate filing, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2025\/05\/14\/media\/smartmatic-accuses-fox-news-rupert-murdoch-destroying-evidence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The company alleged in court documents that Fox &ldquo;orchestrated the destruction of text messages across all levels of their corporate hierarchy &hellip; despite a clear duty to preserve evidence.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmaoadhla00063b6mjk3k4yic@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-analytics-observe=\"off\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/smartmatic-brags-integrity-transparency-hours-president-indicted-fraud-doesnt-bother-deny-charges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Smartmatic<\/a> claimed Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch &ldquo;deleted their texts&rdquo; in an &ldquo;extensive and willful&rdquo; fashion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fox said the allegation was a &ldquo;desperate attempt to distract&rdquo; from the ruling in Fox&rsquo;s favor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;Smartmatic weakly attempts to resurrect stale, baseless discovery issues that actually were disclosed by Fox and resolved two years ago,&rdquo; a Fox representative said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;These issues have no bearing on the merits of Smartmatic&rsquo;s case, which has fallen apart at every turn,&rdquo; the Fox representative said.<\/p>\n<p>As noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/smartmatic-accuses-fox-news-of-destroying-evidence-in-defamation-lawsuit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Wrap<\/a>. Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion from Fox.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2023, Fox News settled a lawsuit from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/solomon-actually-won-dominion-voting-systems-fox-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dominion Voting Systems<\/a> for $787.5 million, as noted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dominion alleged that Fox&rsquo;s 2020 coverage of issues concerning its voting systems defamed the company.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fox News attorneys defending against a defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic Voting Systems have received new evidence. Recently, they were allowed access to documents related to a 2024 federal bribery indictment involving company co-founder and president Roger Pi\u00f1ate and other executives, as reported by The Wrap. The Justice Department claims that over $1 million in bribes were paid by company executives to a Philippine official in an effort to influence the voting machines used in the country&#8217;s 2016 elections. Those charged have pleaded not guilty. Fox argues that these charges are pertinent to its defense, suggesting that Smartmatic&#8217;s issues stem from factors unrelated to Fox&#8217;s coverage of the 2020 election, according to The Wrap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2437509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Smartmatic.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[32324,32135,37763,32869,5428],"class_list":["post-2437508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-appeals-court","tag-fox-news","tag-insider-information","tag-legal-battle","tag-smartmatic"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Smartmatic.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2437508"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2437512,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437508\/revisions\/2437512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2437509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2437508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2437508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2437508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}