New York (AFP)
The computer company Smartmatic is suing for $ 2.7 billion from the Fox News channel as well as from supporters of Donald Trump, accused of relaying conspiracy theories which made him the instrument of a massive electoral fraud.
After the officialization of the victory of Joe Biden, several close to the Trump camp affirmed that the American presidential election had been manipulated, in particular thanks to the active role of vote counting software.
Attorney Sidney Powell, once a member of Donald Trump's legal team, argued that specialist providers Dominion and Smartmatic, whose services were used during the election, were instrumental in an international conspiracy to deprive re-election of the outgoing president.
None of these claims could ever be corroborated.
In addition, Smartmatic only provided its services to Los Angeles County during the presidential election and could not have materially intervened in key states in the election.
In the viewfinder of Smartmatic, Fox News, accused of having "offered its millions of viewers and readers a story: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did not win the election. Smartmatic stole it for them."
Also accused, Sidney Powell, but also Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as well as three presenters, Jeanine Pirro of Fox News, but also Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs of sister channel Fox Business.
"Their story was a lie," continues the document filed in a New York civil court.
"The whole story. And they knew it. But she was selling."
"We are proud of our coverage of the 2020 election and we will defend ourselves forcefully in court against this baseless action," a spokeswoman for the channel told AFP.
Smartmatic says its "reputation" has been "permanently tarnished".
Worried by the fanciful accusations against her, her clients "began to panic", according to the summons document.
Several executives and employees of the company have even received death threats, according to the group, which is demanding, in addition to $ 2.7 billion for defamation and denigration, the complete retraction of the charges.
Beyond that, this conspiracy theory "undermined people's confidence in democracy," and led to the invasion of Congress by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, argues Smartmatic.
© 2021 AFP