Newsmax settles with Smartmatic days ahead of trial

Newsmax has settled a lawsuit brought by voting systems provider Smartmatic in connection with the channel’s airing of false claims about its software after the 2020 election, the network announced Thursday.

“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” a spokesperson for the outlet told The Hill.

The settlement comes as jury selection was underway on Thursday ahead of trial in the case set to start next week.

Smartmatic sued Newsmax, along with a host of other conservative media companies and allies of former President Trump, over claims about its software and the fairness of the 2020 election. 

In public statements and legal filings over the last two years, the voting systems provider had argued Newsmax damaged its reputation and financial health by spreading unproven claims of voter fraud.  

To prove defamation, Smartmatic would have had to convince a jury the conservative outlet acted with “actual malice” or “reckless disregard for the truth,” when broadcasting claims about the company.  

Smartmatic, through testimony and exhibits entered before the court, was expected to lay out for jurors how pressure to retain audience in the days following the election motivated the channel to promote unproven claims about the company and its software.  

The cable channel, in defending itself from Smartmatic’s claims, argued that it was simply reporting on newsworthy allegations being made by Trump and his supporters, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and conservative attorney Sidney Powell. 

The Delaware Superior Court Judge presiding over the case, Eric Davis, ruled earlier this month that Newsmax would be allowed to argue that the Florida-based company is protected from liability under the state’s “neutral reporting privilege,” which extends to “disinterested and neutral reporting” on matters of public concern.  

Attorneys for the network contested the outlet was protected from liability because many of the allegedly defamatory statements were made by third parties appearing as guests or were rebroadcast.  

Attorneys for the cable channel were also expected to underscore indictments handed down last month against three current and former Smartmatic executives, including the company’s Venezuelan-born co-founder, Roger Piñate.

Those charges involve an alleged scheme to pay more than $1 million in bribes to put Smartmatic voting machines in the Philippines.  

Davis issued a pretrial ruling limiting the scope of the evidence Newsmax can present relative to the corruption allegations.  

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Updated at 4:07 p.m.