Attorney Lin Wood, who is now representing fellow attorney Sidney Powell, tweeted his response to lawyers from Smartmatic USA Corp. who are demanding a retraction from Ms. Powell over claims she’s made about the voting machine company:
I represent Sidney Powell. I have carefully reviewed your letter of December 15, 2020. I am not impressed. Ms. Powell retracts nothing.
File your lawsuit.
Well, it’s succinct and to the point:
Knowing my background & experience in defamation law, Sidney @SidneyPowell1 asked me to represent her & respond to SmartMatic litigation threat.
Since everything Sidney is saying about election fraud is documented TRUTH, my response to SmartMatic was simple & to the point. pic.twitter.com/bWvhBXmtsi
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) December 20, 2020
Sidney Powell added that the “same is true for” any demand for a retraction from Dominion Voting Systems:
Same is true for #Dominion
Heard they wrote me too!
Haven’t seen it but retracting nothing
We have #evidence
They are #fraud masters!@tracybeanz @GenFlynn @realDonaldTrump @LLinWood @MajorPatriot @MajorKillSwitch @Scavino45 @marklevinshow @BillWhiteNY @BarbaraRedgate https://t.co/vTIsK5jBX2— Sidney Powell ??⭐⭐⭐ (@SidneyPowell1) December 20, 2020
Smartmatic also sent demand letters to Fox News, OAN and Newsmax:
Smartmatic announced today that it is issuing legal notices and retraction demand letters to Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network for publishing false and defamatory statements. The demand letters identify dozens of factually inaccurate statements made by each of the organizations as part of a “disinformation campaign” to injure Smartmatic and discredit the 2020 U.S. election.
According to Smartmatic’s demand letters, these organizations could have easily discovered the falsity of the statements and implications made about Smartmatic by investigating their statements before publishing them to millions of viewers and readers. Smartmatic had nothing to do with the “controversies” that certain public and private figures have alleged regarding the 2020 U.S. election. Multiple fact-checkers have consistently debunked these false statements with stunning consistency and regularity.
These lawsuits could be problematic, especially for Newsmax and OAN writes the NYT’s Ben Smith:
Legal threats from Smartmatic/Dominion jeopardize Newsmax & OAN's dream of becoming a new “Trump TV." Both are burning money to steal ratings from Fox, executives from both companies have acknowledged, and litigation could scare investors, @benyt writes
— Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) December 21, 2020
And noted 1st Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams warned that these lawsuits could be “dangerous” to the media companies. From the NYT:
The letters written by lawyers for Smartmatic and Dominion are “extremely powerful,” said Floyd Abrams, one of the country’s most prominent First Amendment lawyers, in an email to The New York Times. “The repeated accusations against both companies are plainly defamatory and surely have done enormous reputational and financial harm to both.”
Mr. Abrams noted that “truth is always a defense” and that, failing that, the networks may defend themselves by saying they didn’t know the charges were false, while Ms. Powell may say she was simply describing legal filings.
“It is far too early to predict how the cases, if commenced, will end,” he said. “But it is not too early to say that they would be highly dangerous to those sued.
Multiple Fox News shows, including Lou Dobbs, aired segments that have basically debunked their claims against Semantic over the past few weeks:
WASHPOST: What happens after Lou Dobbs (and Fox News) is threatened with a lawsuit: He debunks his own claims of election fraud https://t.co/4sKUvFGkCg
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) December 20, 2020
This segment ran on Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro’s shows as well:
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 they’ve been peddling. Expect it to run on Hannity, Tucker, and Laura too. pic.twitter.com/lJrMO2m7l4
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) December 20, 2020
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