Lawyers for a voting machine company that is suing Fox News want to question founder Rupert Murdoch about it controversial attempts to change trust in his familyThe lawyers told the court this on Monday.
Election technology company Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation suit concerns Fox’s reporting on voter fraud claims in 2020. But Smartmatic’s lawyers suggest the separate succession battle over Murdoch’s media empire could shed light on Fox Corp.’s involvement. in editorial matters.
It’s an important, albeit technical, question as Smartmatic seeks to hold the deeply entrenched Fox parent company accountable for statements the news network has aired. Fox claims that there is no such liability and that she was engaged in journalism, not defamation, when she broadcast allegations of election fraud made by the then president Donald Trump ‘s lawyers.
Rupert Murdoch may have already made a statement – extrajudicial interrogation under oath – in the defamation case. No such documents are public at this stage, but plans for his statement were briefly mentioned at a hearing in 2022.
Smartmatic is now trying to talk to Murdoch about his attempts to rewrite his plans for his companies after his death.
The case is taking place behind closed doors and in sealed files in a Nevada court. The New York Times reports this that Rupert Murdoch wants to keep his eldest son, Lachlanresponsible for the conglomerate’s newspapers and television networks to do that ensuring a persistently conservative editorial vision.
Smartmatic wants to get a handle on the 93-year-old patriarch as the probate case plays out, company attorney Edward Wipper told a judge on Monday.
Fox News attorney K. Winn Allen said the probate lawsuit has “nothing at all to do with” Smartmatic’s claims and is “not appropriate” fodder for the lawsuit.
Fox Corp. declined to comment after court.
Fox News’ lawyers, meanwhile, want Smartmatic to provide details of a U.S. federal criminal case against people, including Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate, accused of plans to bribe a Philippine election official. Piñate has pleaded not guilty.
Smartmatic is not charged in the criminal case, and Smartmatic’s lawyers have said the case was not relevant to the defamation case. Fox lost previous bids for a court order to obtain the information, but a hearing on the network’s renewed request is set for next week.
It’s unclear how quickly Judge David B. Cohen will rule on that request or on Smartmatic’s bid to delve into the Murdoch family’s trust case. Both requests are part of pre-trial information gathering and no trial date has been set.
Smartmatic says it was a small player, working only with heavily Democratic Los Angeles County in California in the 2020 US presidential election.
In subsequent Fox News appearances, Trump lawyers spoke Rudy Giuliani And Sydney Powell portrayed Smartmatic as part of a multi-state scheme to steal votes from Republicans.
Federal and state election officialsextensive reviews in theaters of war and Trump’s own attorney general found no widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. Nor did they find any credible evidence that the vote was spoiled. Dozens of courts, including judges appointed by Trump, rejected his fraud claims.
Fox News eventually aired an interview with an election technology expert who refuted the allegations against Smartmatic – an interview that was done after the company demanded a retraction.
The network is Contradict Smartmaticclaiming it violated a New York law against baseless lawsuits aimed at suppressing reporting or criticism of public issues.
The defamation lawsuit in New York is one of many stemming from conservative-leaning news media’s reporting of Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2020. Smartmatic recently settled with One America News Network And Newsmax.
Fox News arranged last year for $787 million from Dominion Voting Systems, another election technology company that charged with conspiracy theories blaming his election equipment for Trump’s 2020 loss.