Fox Airs Election Talk After Legal Threat

What a difference legal action can make. Fox News hosts who have allowed election-fraud conspiracies to air on their programs just aired a segment debunking some of those very claims, CNN reports. Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo played the segment this weekend after Smartmatic, a voting technology company, sent legal notices to Fox, Newsmax, and One America News Network. The notices accused them of making "false and defamatory claims" as part of a "disinformation campaign," per the Guardian. During the segment, voting technology expert Eddie Perez contradicted claims that Smartmatic software was used to alter or delete votes, that votes were tabulated outside the US, and that the company is linked to billionaire George Soros, among others.

Perez told CNN that Fox's election coverage has been "speculative and not based in fact," adding that "I am not accustomed to seeing Lou Dobbs air very straightforward factual evidence." He said Fox didn't tell him how the interview would be used, and that circumstances around it—like having an unidentified interviewer—seemed odd. Meanwhile, Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica said Fox News, Newsmax, and OANN "have no evidence to support their attacks on Smartmatic because there is no evidence. This campaign was designed to defame Smartmatic and undermine legitimately conducted elections." Fox declined a request for comment, while Newsmax denied making direct claims against Smartmatic. (More Fox News stories.)