Trump Campaign Subpoenaed By Smartmatic As Part of $2.7 Billion Lawsuit Against Fox News

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

Smartmatic, the voting technology company suing Fox News for $2.7 billion for defamation, reportedly subpoenaed former President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign for documents related to its case.

Smartmatic, like Dominion Voting Systems which settled with Fox for $787.5 million, sued Fox News alleging the network knowingly spread false allegations that the company had engaged in voter fraud to help Joe Biden defeat Trump in the 2020 election.

Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign was heavily involved in spreading those allegations both before and after the election and Smartmatic’s subpoena requires “the Trump campaign to turn over documents related to Smartmatic, Fox News, and the allegations of fraud the campaign falsely made about the 2020 election,” CNN reported on Wednesday.

The subpoena was issued in April but was only made public in a court filing late Tuesday. CNN’s Oliver Darcy noted, however, that while the “subpoena does not need court approval, the potential for legal wrangling over it hasn’t yet begun. Once served, the Trump campaign can fight it in court. A judge could then quash it, narrow its scope or let it stand.”

Smartmatic, which is suing for almost a billion more than Dominion sued for, has already said through its lawyers that the company wants to go to trial and will pursue a full on-air retraction from Fox News for the claims the company alleges amount to defamation.

Dominion’s suit against Fox News resulted in months of internal emails, text messages, and other communications from top Fox hosts and executives being made public ahead of what many observers and pundits expected would be the media trial of the century. Smartmatic’s subpoena of the Trump campaign, if held up by the judge, could result in a similar public unmasking of private sentiments from top Trump 2020 officials.

Darcy noted that Smartmatic has also “issued other notable subpoenas, including former Attorney General Bill Barr,” and that Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch vowed as recently as Tuesday to continue to fight off Smartmatic’s lawsuit.

Fox News reacted to news of the subpoena with the following statement: “We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025. As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”