Dominion voting systems filed $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News

Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, saying the network circulated false claims that the voting machine company was involved in voter fraud during the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The lawsuit filed on Friday in Delaware stated that Fox sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process. “If this case does not rise to the level of defamation by a broadcaster, then nothing does,” the lawsuit mentioned.

The complaint also mentions that Fox endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of lies that were devastating and verifiably false about Dominion, including claims that the company’s software manipulated the results of the 2020 vote.

In response to the lawsuit filed, Fox News issued a statement Friday morning stating that it “is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court.”

Dominion also said that some of its employees have faced harassment and even death threats over claims raised by Fox News.

Dominion’s lawsuit asks for a jury trial and is seeking at least $1.6 billion in lost profits and enterprise value, plus more than $1 million in security expenses and expenses combating disinformation.

Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell, lawyers who worked with Trump on his post-election flurry of legal actions are few others against whom Dominion has filed defamation lawsuits.

The suit also mentions Eric Gavelek Munchel, a Fox Business viewer who is now facing federal charges. 

Authorities identified him as a man who wore dark military-style fatigues and carried a bundle of flex cuffs as he clambered over seats in the Senate chamber.