
Fox News gets a win in Smartmatic defamation case
CNN
An appeals court ruled that Fox News lawyers can access disputed documents that could bolster their defense against the voting tech company’s lawsuit.
Fox News lawyers will soon receive new documents that could bolster their defense against Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit over the 2020 election. Reversing a lower court decision, a New York appeals court ruled Tuesday that Fox News can obtain disputed materials about a separate federal bribery indictment against senior Smartmatic executives. The conservative cable network says the documents are crucial to its defense in the defamation lawsuit. Smartmatic, a voting technology company based in Florida, sued Fox News and its parent corporation in 2021, claiming that the network’s conspiracy theory-tinged coverage of the 2020 election destroyed its reputation. Numerous on-air hosts and guests promoted the debunked lie that Smartmatic machines rigged the 2020 results against President Donald Trump. Adding to its legal troubles, three current and former executives at Smartmatic were charged last year by the Justice Department with allegedly paying more than $1 million in bribes to secure a contract in the Philippines. The defendants in the bribery case have pleaded not guilty, and Smartmatic denies criminal wrongdoing. Fox has argued that if Smartmatic’s reputation was damaged, it was because of its controversial foreign dealings — not because of news coverage about the 2020 election.

An initial reading of third-quarter gross domestic product showed the US economy expanded at an inflation-adjusted annualized rate of 4.3%, a far faster pace than the 3.8% recorded in the second quarter, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday. That’s the fastest growth rate in two years.

Paramount has upped the ante in its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, announcing Monday that Larry Ellison will personally guarantee the tens of billions of dollars he is putting up to bankroll the transaction. The Ellisons will also let shareholders peer into the finances of their family trust.











