Washington
—
The Justice Department on Thursday filed foreign bribery prices against Smartmatic, the voting know-how firm that’s suing Fox News and different distinguished pro-Trump figures for defamation over their promotion of 2020 election lies.
The bribery and cash laundering prices against Smartmatic arose from an existing case filed final yr against a few of its present and former executives, together with its founder.
The indictment pertains to an alleged $1 million bribe paid to the highest election official in the Philippines to safe profitable contracts for that nation’s 2016 elections. The indictment doesn’t embrace any allegations of voter fraud or election-rigging against Smartmatic.
The information could possibly be catastrophic for Smartmatic, doubtlessly weakening its hand in pending 2020 election-related defamation lawsuits against Fox News, the Fox News host turned US legal professional Jeanine Pirro, ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
The prices might undermine Smartmatic’s arguments that its repute has been broken solely by these pro-Trump figures and their brazen lies concerning the 2020 election.
“This is more of the same. A photocopy of the previous spurious indictment,” Smartmatic mentioned in a press release on Thursday, denying wrongdoing and vowing to struggle the case.
The firm additional mentioned, “We believe the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida has been misled and politically influenced by powerful interests, despite our extensive cooperation with the government. This is again, targeted, political, and unjust.”
It’s unclear what meddling Smartmatic is referring to. President Donald Trump has efficiently pushed in latest weeks to prosecute his opponents, however the underlying case against Smartmatic executives was introduced by the Biden-era Justice Department, and profession prosecutors endorsed Thursday’s new indictment, in line with courtroom filings.
Smartmatic’s co-defendants beforehand pleaded not responsible.
The firm’s machines are in style abroad, however in US elections, they’re solely used in Los Angeles. NCS has reached out to town’s election officers in search of remark.
After President Donald Trump misplaced the 2020 election, he and his allies spread the false claim that Smartmatic know-how flipped tens of millions of votes to rob him of a victory.
Smartmatic filed defamation lawsuits in 2021 against these figures, and different right-wing media shops, in search of billions of {dollars} in damages. The firm settled with Newsmax final yr for $40 million and settled with One America News for an undisclosed quantity.
All of those pro-Trump shops and figures deny wrongdoing.
The Philippines scandal — which NCS first revealed in 2023 — has provided a major boost to those pro-Trump figures dealing with defamation lawsuits. They have sought further paperwork concerning the legal probe, hoping these will weaken damages claims from Smartmatic, and they’ve argued that the indictment proves Smartmatic’s shady practices.
“Smartmatic was and is a failing company: its continued cozy relationship with dictators, a decade of mismanagement and poor performance, and criminal bribery charges against its highest echelon of leaders,” Fox News wrote in a courtroom submitting earlier this yr.