<p><img src="https://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5fe0eff6d366e6001809965b-2400/giuliani%20digenova.jpg" border="0" alt="giuliani digenova" data-mce-source="Getty" data-mce-caption="Rudolph Giuliani, left, and Joseph diGenova, center, attorneys for President Donald Trump, conduct a news conference at the Republican National Committee on lawsuits regarding the outcome of the 2020 presidential election on Thursday, November 19, 2020"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>The right-wing news outlet Newsmax on Monday broadcast a lengthy statement to "clarify" false and baseless claims made on its platform about two vote-processing companies, Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems, and the 2020 election.</p><p>"Newsmax would like to clarify its news coverage and note that it has not reported as true certain claims made about these companies," John Tabacco said on the network.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation=""><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Newsmax just aired this note to "clarify" its coverage of Smartmatic and Dominion. <a href="https://t.co/I5XZ7CQpAk">pic.twitter.com/I5XZ7CQpAk</a></p> John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1341078245878472706'ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Newsmax also <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/us/smartmatic-dominion-voting-systems-software-election/2020/12/19/id/1002355/">posted the same statement</a> on its website on Saturday. It said it had "no evidence" to back up certain <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-trump-legal-team-false-claims-5abd64917ef8be9e9e2078180973e8b3">election-fraud claims</a>.</p><p>Smartmatic, a digital-security firm, <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/smartmatic-threatens-legal-action-against-fox-news-newsmax-and-one-america-news-for-airing-disinformation-campaign/">has threatened to sue</a> Newsmax, Fox News, and One America News Network over promoting false and defamatory claims that the firm engaged in or covered up voter fraud, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/media/smartmatic-lawsuit-fox-news-newsmax-oan.html">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p><strong><em>Read more:</em></strong> <em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-trump-campaign-shell-company-family-ammc-lara-2020-12'r=oo-kush">EXCLUSIVE: Jared Kushner helped create a Trump campaign shell company that secretly paid the president's family members and spent $617 million in reelection cash, a source tells Insider</a></em></p><p>Clarifications that aired on Fox News and Fox Business Channel over the weekend were different from the one that aired on Newsmax. The Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and Lou Dobbs used interlocutors to correct the record on various claims instead of reading a statement.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation=""><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fox News hosts caught in a web of lies. Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs all forced by the network to air exact same video of an expert debunking all the conspiracy theories theyve been peddling. Expect it to run on Hannity, Tucker, and Laura too. <a href="https://t.co/lJrMO2m7l4">pic.twitter.com/lJrMO2m7l4</a></p> Mike Sington (@MikeSington) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1340700080022515712'ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>The Times said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dominion-voting-threatens-sidney-powell-with-defamation-lawsuit-2020-12">Dominion Voting Systems had also threatened to sue the Trump campaign</a> and Sidney Powell, a lawyer who worked for the campaign who has spread lies and disinformation about the election results and the voting companies.</p><p>President Donald Trump and his allies, including Powell and his attorney Rudy Giuliani, have aggressively promoted baseless claims that the companies were part of a global cabal bent on stealing the race.</p><p>Various theories about nefarious players involved in voting machines and mail-in voting systems became central to Newsmax's coverage in the weeks after the election. The network finally said last week that it would <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/newsmax-will-call-biden-president-elect-pro-trump-praise-2020-12">call Joe Biden the president-elect</a>.</p><p>Powell and Giuliani found in Newsmax a receptive audience for some of their most outlandish claims, such as that the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez managed to orchestrate the conspiracy<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hugo-chavez-is-dead-2013-3">before his death in 2013</a>, with other actors such as the Clinton Foundation and the CIA then carrying it out.</p><p>At one point in the segment, Tabacco, who was filling in for the host John Bachman, rattled off a series of political figures and entities the network had wrongly implicated.</p><p>"Dominion has stated the company has no ownership relationship with the Pelosi family, the Feinstein family, the Clinton family, Hugo Chavez, or the government of Venezuela," he said.</p><p>"Smartmatic is a US company and not owned by the Venezuelan government, Hugo Chavez, or any foreign official or entity," Tabacco continued. "Smartmatic states that it has no operations in Venezuela ... It was never founded by Hugo Chavez, nor did it have a corrupt relationship with him or the Venezuelan government."</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/newsmax-ceo-chris-ruddy-interview-great-for-news-2020-11">Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy</a> said in a statement later Monday that the clarification segment would air across its shows.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation=""><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Newsmax's Chris Ruddy tells me that the statement that's making the rounds will be aired on ALL Newsmax TV shows. This began over the weekend and will continue today.<br><br>Here it is: <a href="https://t.co/h5i8uKrVPM">pic.twitter.com/h5i8uKrVPM</a></p> S.V. Dte (@svdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1341096656431923202'ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aoc-rejects-left-wing-calls-to-force-pelosi-to-hold-medicare-for-all-vote-2020-12" >Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rejects left-wing calls to force Pelosi to hold a 'Medicare for All' vote in exchange for her vote for the speaker</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/newsmax-airs-election-fraud-correction-video-lawsuit-dominion-smartmatic-2020-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/literacy-test-louisiana-disenfranchise-black-vote-2016-6">We took a 1964 Louisiana literacy test and failed spectacularly</a></p>
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