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WASHINGTON (CN) — Right-wing news outlet Newsmax agreed to pay $67 million to settle a libel lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over the outlet’s claims that the voting machine company engaged in election fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the parties signed the settlement on Aug. 15, ending four years of litigation after the suit was initially brought in the Superior Court of Delaware in August 2021.
The settlement marks the second settlement Dominion has reached with conservative news outlets that repeated such claims — in April 2023, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a similar defamation case.
Delaware Superior Judge Eric Davis partially granted Dominion summary judgment in its libel suit in April, finding that Newsmax had defamed the voting technology company by broadcasting false claims that its voting machines were rigged and changed votes in former President Joe Biden’s favor.
The settlement avoided a looming jury trial, where Dominion sought up to $1.6 billion in damages.
Davis, appointed by Democratic Governor Jack Markell, declined to find whether Newsmax’s leadership and anchors acted with actual malice — a legal standard required to prove defamation, where a defendant knew their statements were false or made them with “reckless disregard” as to their veracity.
However, he ruled Dominion was entitled to summary judgment over 18 of 19 broadcast statements — the leftover statement was a Twitter post by former White House Correspondent Emerald Robinson, which Davis found did not amount to a statement published by Newsmax.
The 18 statements, made between Nov. 10, 2020, and Dec. 21, 2020, together claimed: Dominion had participated in election fraud by rigging the 2020 election; its software and algorithms manipulated vote counts; Dominion was owned by a Venezuelan company founded to rig elections for Hugo Chavez; Dominion paid kickbacks to swing- state government officials who used its machines; and Dominion was involved in voting irregularities in Dallas, Texas.
According to the filing, the $67 million will be paid in three installments over the next two years, with the first $27 million already paid on Aug. 15, $20 million by Jan. 15, 2026, and $20 million by Jan. 15, 2027.
In an emailed statement, a Dominion spokesperson simply stated: “We are pleased to have settled this matter.”
Newsmax issued a lengthy statement, standing behind its reporting and marking a defiant tone.
“Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020,” the company said in an email. “We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced and conducted within professional standards of journalism.
The company slammed Davis’ impartiality, asserting that his rulings were overwhelmingly in Dominion’s favor and limited Newsmax’s ability to defend itself.
“The judiciary’s willingness to punish news organizations for reporting on matters of urgent debate undermines the role of the press in a free society,” Newsmax said in the statement.
In September 2024, Newsmax settled a similar defamation suit brought by Smartmatic, another voting machine company, challenging claims the company had manipulated votes in the 2020 election. That settlement was announced just hours after jury selection began in Delaware, also before Davis.
“Remember, the states are merely an ‘agent’ for the federal government in counting and tabulating the votes,” Trump wrote. “They must do what the federal government, as represented by the president of the United States, tells them, for the good of our country, to do.”
The post echoes statements Trump made in the months leading up to and following the 2020 presidential election, where he cast doubt on the reliability of mail-in voting and the ultimate results. He continued to repeat such rhetoric until his Ellipse speech on Jan. 6, 2021, which sparked the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“Remember, without fair and honest elections, and strong and powerful borders, you don’t even have a semblance of a country,” Trump said in Monday’s post, nearly identical to his Jan. 6 call to “fight like hell” or “you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
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