Newsmax Issues Retraction, Apology to Dominion Voting Systems Executive After Being Sued for Defamation

By A.J. Katz 

Newsmax has apologized to an executive from Dominion Voting Systems named Dr. Eric Coomer after he sued them for defamation.

“An executive at Dominion Voting Systems moved to dismiss Newsmax as a defendant in a defamation lawsuit Friday after reaching a settlement with the right-wing media organization,” Business Insider reported Friday. “It’s the first such settlement from a news organization in a defamation lawsuit filed over 2020 election conspiracy theories.”

According to BI, Coomer, who is head of product strategy and security for the Denver-based voting technology company, sued Newsmax in December in Colorado state court over false claims that he took part in an “Antifa conference call” to rig the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden and against Donald Trump.

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Coomer said he was being targeted by conspiracy theorists after the election, and at the time he said he was in fear for his and his family’s safety.

On Friday, Newsmax issued a retraction and apology on its website, saying it found “no evidence” that earlier claims about Coomer and the 2020 presidential election were true.

The statement of apology from Newsmax read: “Since Election Day, various guests, attorneys, and hosts on Newsmax have offered opinions and claims about Dr. Eric Coomer, the Director of Product Strategy and Security at Dominion Voting Systems. Newsmax would like to clarify its coverage of Dr. Coomer and note that while Newsmax initially covered claims by President Trump’s lawyers, supporters and others that Dr. Coomer played a role in manipulating Dominion voting machines, Dominion voting software, and the final vote counts in the 2020 presidential election, Newsmax subsequently found no evidence that such allegations were true.

“On behalf of Newsmax, we would like to apologize for any harm that our reporting of the allegations against Dr. Coomer may have caused to Dr. Coomer and his family,” said Newsmax.

The terms of the settlement have yet to be disclosed.

In addition to its battle with Newsmax, Dominion also filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in March, arguing that the network falsely claimed that the company had rigged the 2020 presidential election in order to boost its ratings.

In response to Dominion’s lawsuit, Fox put out the following statement: “Fox News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court.”

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