Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787.5 million last-minute settlement with Fox News on Tuesday but the company is far from finished.
Justin Nelson, Dominion's lead counsel, told CNN on Tuesday that the voting machine company still has pending lawsuits against numerous Trump allies and right-wing broadcasters that falsely claimed the company rigged machines to flip votes to President Joe Biden.
"What this settlement today shows is that the actual malice standard isn't just on paper ... journalists can't knowingly lie," said Nelson. "Journalists can't say one thing in private and another thing in public. And when we have that protection and that knowledge that in fact, there is the protection of the actual malice standard, and that is from the First Amendment. We can be assured that journalists will go ahead and report the truth and will do so with the full freedom the First Amendment allows."
"Your team had mentioned earlier that this is sort of the first step," said CNN correspondent Sarah Sidner. "What happens next for Dominion? What does this mean for other lawsuits against other networks that were promoting false theories about the 2020 election?"
"That's a great question," Nelson replied. "This is one of seven lawsuits. This one settled today. There are six left. And I think it sends a message to the other six lawsuits that accountability is coming as well. It's not over. We have lawsuits against Newsmax, against One America News, against Sidney Powell, against Rudolph Giuliani and Mike Lindell and MyPillow and Patrick Byrne. And many of them are still propagating these lies about the election, and they are still having an effect."
"So we intend to hold people accountable because, as we have said, the truth really does matter and if you are lying, that has consequences," he added. "It had a consequence for Dominion in the ... grievous blow to the reputation that it had over the past couple of years and the threats the death threats that the company really continues to receive, and it had a consequence for Fox. Today they paid nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars."
Smartmatic, another voting tech company embroiled in TrumpWorld conspiracy theories, has also sued Fox News, its hosts, and other Trump allies. The list of those who have been sued in connection with advancing election falsehoods includes former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, Fox News and several of its hosts including Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs, and Maria Bartiromo, right-wing outlet Newsmax, and One America News, which refused to acknowledge Biden's win in the 2020 election.
On @CNN Primetime tonight, Anchor and Chief Investigative Correspondent @PamelaBrownCNN spoke with Dominion Voting attorney Justin Nelson about today's settlement with Fox News. pic.twitter.com/6wPlFc3fWM
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) April 19, 2023
