Dominion Voting Systems Files Flurry of Defamation Suits
Dominion Voting Systems has filed a series of defamation lawsuits against One America News Network, Newsmax and Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com, over their roles in advancing conspiracy theories that Dominion rigged the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The lawsuits against Herring Networks, the parent company of One America News Network and Byrne were filed Tuesday morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The One American complaint also names owners Robert Herring and Charles Herring, and One America on-air personalities Chanel Rion and Christina Bobb as defendants.
The Newsmax lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court in Delaware.
Each of the lawsuits seeks more than $1.6 billion in damages.
“The defendants in today’s filings recklessly disregarded the truth when they spread lies in November and continue to do so today,” Dominion CEO John Poulos said in a written statement.
“We are filing these three cases today because the defendants named show no remorse, nor any sign they intend to stop spreading disinformation,” Poulos said. “This barrage of lies by the defendants and others have caused—and continue to cause—severe damage to our company, customers, and employees. We have no choice but to seek to hold those responsible to account.”
The complaints pull no punches. For instance, the complaint against Byrne begins this way:
“After blowing up his career at Overstock by having an affair with a Russian spy, Patrick Byrne soon found himself a new pet project: promoting the false narrative that the 2020 election had been stolen.
“In fact, as Byrne has publicly admitted, he had already committed to that narrative three months before the election took place. After the election, Byrne manufactured and promoted fake evidence to convince the world that the 2020 election had been stolen as part of a massive international conspiracy among China, Venezuelan and Spanish companies, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, prominent Republicans, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Dominion, which, Byrne falsely claimed, committed fraud and helped steal the 2020 presidential election.”
The Newsmax lawsuit begins with a joint statement issued by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which described the Nov. 3, 2021 election as “the most secure in American history.”
Dominion said based on several independent reviews, the performance of its machines was “a huge success.”
“What should have been a triumph, however, turned to disaster—not because of anything Dominion did, but because of the lies that influential media companies like Newsmax promoted. Newsmax helped create and cultivate an alternate reality where up is down, pigs have wings, and Dominion engaged in a colossal fraud to steal the presidency from Donald Trump by rigging the vote,” the complaint says.
“During and after the November 2020 election, OAN saw a business opportunity. Spurred by a quest for profits and viewers, OAN — a competitor to media giant Fox — engaged in a race to the bottom with Fox and other outlets such as Newsmax to spread false and manufactured stories about election fraud,” the company said in the OAN complaint.
Dominion sued Fox News for $1.6 billion in March. The network is seeking to have the claim dismissed, as it contends that the lawsuit is a First Amendment attack on their reporting of then President Donald Trump’s election claims.
In a statement, Newsmax said, “While Newsmax has not reviewed the Dominion filing, in its coverage of the 2020 Presidential elections, Newsmax simply reported on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the president, his advisors and members of Congress — Dominion’s action today is a clear attempt to squelch such reporting and undermine a free press.
“Newsmax may have additional comments on the suit later,” it said.
Neither One America nor Byrne could immediately be reached for comment.
