Newsmax issues clarification on Smartmatic, Dominion claims

Conservative media outlet Newsmax issued a clarification on Monday about recent claims made by guests about a voting software company the network suggested flipped votes to President-elect Joe Biden. 

“Newsmax would like to clarify its news coverage and note it has not reported as true certain claims made about these companies,” the outlet said in a statement posted online and read by host John Tabacco. “There are several facts our viewers and readers should be aware. Newsmax has found no evidence either Dominion or Smartmatic owns the other, or has any business association with each other.”

The clarification comes after Florida-based electronic voting system company Smartmatic issued legal notices and retraction demand letters to three conservative outlets including Newsmax for what they said were defamatory and untrue reports about the company. 

“They 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,” Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica said in a statement. “Our efforts are more than just about Smartmatic or any other company. This campaign is an attack on election systems and election workers in an effort to depress confidence in future elections and potentially counter the will of the voters, not just here, but in democracies around the world.”

The company has been at the center of attacks from Trump’s legal allies such as Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. The New York times reported the company was not used in any states Trump has contested the result of the election in and only helped one U.S. county run its election. 

Newsmax acknowledged this in its clarification, writing: “Smartmatic has stated its software was only used in the 2020 election in Los Angeles, and was not used in any battleground state contested by the Trump campaign and Newsmax has no evidence to the contrary.”

Trump has pointed to Newsmax as an alternative to Fox News for his conservative supporters in recent months. The network resisted calling Biden the president-elect until last week and has been attempting to attract Fox News’s audience. 

A growing number of pro-Trump Republican politicians, pundits and strategists are appearing on the network despite Fox’s dominance across the cable news landscape.