Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, which accused the conservative network of spreading false claims related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Court filings made on Monday confirmed the settlement, which follows similar legal actions involving misinformation about the election results.
The settlement comes after Fox News reached a much larger agreement, paying $787.5 million to Dominion in 2023 over related falsehoods. Newsmax had also previously paid $40 million to settle another defamation suit from Smartmatic, another voting machine company targeted by conspiracy theories.
A Delaware judge had previously ruled that Newsmax defamed Dominion by broadcasting false claims about the company and its equipment. However, the court had yet to determine whether the network acted with actual malice—an essential legal standard in defamation cases—and left the matter for a jury trial. That trial was avoided when the parties reached a settlement last Friday.
Newsmax disclosed the agreement in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a statement, the network defended its editorial decisions, saying it was “critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020.” The company maintained that its coverage was “fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”
Dominion expressed satisfaction with the settlement outcome.
The legal battle unfolded amid ongoing claims by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election was stolen—a claim repeatedly debunked by court rulings, audits, and investigations. Despite this, Trump renewed his push on Monday to eliminate voting machines and mail-in ballots, specifically mentioning Dominion and other voting technology providers. It’s unclear how he plans to implement such changes if re-elected.
The same judge who presided over Dominion’s case against Fox News handled this lawsuit and had earlier concluded that Fox had repeatedly aired election lies, despite internal communications showing that network executives knew the claims were false. Similar internal messages from Newsmax revealed that executives and staff were aware the fraud claims were baseless.
For example, Newsmax host Bob Sellers asked just days after the election, “How long are we going to play along with election fraud?”—a question that surfaced in internal documents. The network had reportedly sought to capture a pro-Trump audience by avoiding calling the election for Joe Biden, viewing it as a business opportunity.
Documents also showed that Newsmax employees warned against inviting Trump-aligned guests like attorney Sidney Powell, whose outlandish claims included unfounded stories involving deceased Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Even Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy privately expressed concern about Trump’s association with Powell, calling it “scary.”
While the network retracted some of its more extreme statements in December 2020, the damage had been done. Dominion was central to many of the baseless theories aired across right-wing media platforms, falsely accusing the company of helping rig the election against Trump.
Despite Trump’s ongoing assertions, no credible evidence has surfaced to support widespread election fraud. His former Attorney General, William Barr, publicly stated there was no indication of large-scale fraud. Courts—including those led by Trump-appointed judges—dismissed dozens of legal challenges. Independent recounts and audits, many led by Republican officials, all affirmed Biden’s win.
After losing re-election, Trump pardoned individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol riot and targeted government officials who contradicted his election fraud claims. One such official was Chris Krebs, a former Trump cybersecurity appointee who had publicly vouched for the integrity of the 2020 election.
Earlier this year, as the trial in the Dominion-Newsmax case neared, Trump issued an executive order attacking Susman Godfrey, the law firm representing Dominion and also involved in the Fox News case. The order attempted to ban federal agencies from doing business with the firm’s clients or allowing its lawyers into federal buildings. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order, calling it a “shocking abuse of power.”
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