New York Judge Dismisses Fox’s Attempt to Subpoena George Soros in Smartmatic Case
AP Photo/Francois Mori
A New York judge tossed an attempt by Fox News to subpoena George Soros as part of its lawsuit against voting tech company Smartmatic.
Smartmatic sued Fox for $2.7 billion, accusing the network of defamation for its coverage promoting the 2020 stolen election conspiracy theory and Smartmatic’s alleged role in that theory. One of the claims made on the air at Fox was that there exists a connection between Smartmatic and Soros, a billionaire liberal activist and boogeyman of the right. As part of its defense against the Smartmatic case, Fox News sought to subpoena Soros in order to help prove that connection.
However, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice David B. Cohen dismissed that request to subpoena Soros, his son Alex Soros, and the Open Source Foundation, CNN reported Monday.
Cohen dismissed the theory of a connection between Smartmatic and Soros as “a peripheral matter” and not relevant to the bogus claim that Smartmatic rigged the 2020 election.
“I base that on the finding that the crux of Smartmatic’s claims is that Fox has asserted they were part of rigging [the election], not that Smartmatic was affiliated with George Soros, Alex Soros, or the OSF,” Cohen said, per CNN. “That’s a peripheral matter — at best, it’s a possible rationale for defamation.”
Aaron Marks, an attorney representing Fox, claimed in court on Monday that “there are allegations by Smartmatic that Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, on the airwaves of Fox News, made defamatory remarks, largely implying that Smartmatic — a supposedly neutral and apolitical voting machine company — was rather, in fact, biased and was likely to chat in the direction of Democrats.” He also explained that Mark Malloch-Brown, a board member of OSF as well as a chair for Smartmatic’s parent company, opened the door for a possible connection to Soros, and more evidence was needed to learn “the closeness of the relationship, what Soros has done for Smartmatic over time.”
A lawyer representing Soros, Benjamin McCallen, argued that Fox was trying to make the most general connection to Soros rather than establish his involvement in the case at hand, which was conduct during the 2020 election: “Fox’s argument is maybe it’s peripherally relevant, we just want them to run a search term. [Soros, his son, and OSF] are non-parties to this case and we wish to remain so.”
And Cohen agreed: “I base that on the finding that the crux of Smartmatic’s claims is that Fox has asserted they were part of rigging [the election], not that Smartmatic was affiliated with George Soros, Alex Soros, or the OSF. That’s a peripheral matter — at best, it’s a possible rationale for defamation.”
A spokesperson for Fox News framed the ruling as having made their point, telling Mediaite: “We are pleased that counsel for Soros and Smartmatic conceded during the hearing today that there are connections between Smartmatic and Soros, as confirmed by documents from Smartmatic and the public record.”
Smartmatic isn’t the only voting tech company to sue Fox for its coverage of the 2020 election. Previously, Fox News settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over their own defamation claims.
