While public attention on the high-profile defamation lawsuit between Dominion Voting Systems and the television network often focuses on prominent witnesses and private text messages, the legal battle centers on 20 specific broadcasts and tweets. Dominion contends that the network knowingly propagated falsehoods through these statements, causing severe damage to the voting machine company's reputation.
According to the lawsuit, the 20 allegedly defamatory statements were broadcast or published between November 8, 2020, and January 26, 2021. The statements include on-air remarks from hosts Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, and Jeanine Pirro; interviews with pro-Trump figures Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell; and several social media posts authored by Dobbs.
The allegations detailed in the legal action fall into four main categories: that Dominion engaged in election fraud, that it utilized algorithms to alter vote tallies, that it maintained ties to the Venezuelan government, and that government officials received kickbacks to implement the company's systems. The judge presiding over the defamation trial has already declared these claims false, stating that it is "CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true."
During the trial, the jury will decide whether the network acted with "actual malice"—the high legal standard requiring proof that the broadcaster knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages, alongside punitive damages, while the network has rejected the claims, describing the lawsuit as a baseless attack on press freedom and arguing that Dominion cannot meet the threshold to prove defamation.
The first alleged instance of defamation occurred on November 8, 2020, during Maria Bartiromo's show "Sunday Morning Futures." Bartiromo prompted Sidney Powell by referencing "Dominion software" and "voting irregularities." Powell responded by claiming that "computer glitches" were where "the fraud took place where they were flipping votes in the computer system or adding votes that did not exist."
On November 12, 2020, during "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Rudy Giuliani asserted that Dominion is a foreign-owned company with ties to Venezuelan leaders Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. Giuliani claimed the company had "a history" and "were founded as a company to fix elections," adding that their systems are "extremely hackable."
The next day, November 13, 2020, on "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Dobbs asked Powell for her reaction to Dominion's denial of fraud claims. Powell claimed she had evidence showing Dominion "was created to produce altered voting results in Venezuela for Hugo Chavez and then shipped internationally to manipulate votes for purchase." She also alleged that certain governors and Secretaries of State had financial interests in buying Dominion systems "to line their own pockets." Dobbs replied that the claim was "straightforward" and urged her to quickly produce the results of her investigation.
On November 14, 2020, Dobbs quote-tweeted a post by Giuliani that questioned why Dominion was counting votes in states like Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia. Dobbs wrote that reading about Dominion and Smartmatic would clarify "how pervasive this Democrat electoral fraud is" and explain why the 2020 presidential election was not free or fair.
That same day, November 14, 2020, during "Justice with Judge Jeanine," Powell claimed Dominion was created to alter votes and secure the re-election of Chávez and Maduro, describing it as "one huge, huge criminal conspiracy" that military intelligence should investigate. Host Jeanine Pirro replied, "Yes. And hopefully the Department of Justice, but who knows anymore."
On November 15, 2020, on the Sunday morning program, Bartiromo previewed an upcoming segment by stating that Powell was discussing "potential kickbacks that government officials, who were asked to use Dominion, actually also enjoyed benefits to their families."
Later on November 15, 2020, during an appearance on "Sunday Morning Futures," Powell claimed to possess "sworn witness testimony" proving the software "was designed to rig elections."
On November 16, 2020, on "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Powell claimed to have "stunning evidence" from an affidavit by a high-ranking military officer stating that Smartmatic was "designed in a way that the system could change the vote of each voter without being detected." Powell also falsely claimed that Smartmatic owns Dominion.
On November 18, 2020, during "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Giuliani expressed outrage over a foreign country, "done by friends of an enemy of the United States, Maduro," allegedly being involved in the election.
The following day, November 19, 2020, on "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Powell claimed that "thousands of people in federal prisons" were incarcerated on "far less evidence of criminal conduct" than what existed against Smartmatic and Dominion.
On November 21, 2020, during "Justice with Judge Jeanine," Pirro noted that the president's lawyers were alleging Dominion "started in Venezuela with Cuban money, and with the assistance of Smartmatic software, a backdoor is capable of flipping votes."
On November 24, 2020, on "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Powell claimed to be inundated with evidence of fraud. Dobbs remarked that many Americans suspect electoral fraud was "perpetrated through electronic voting," specifically mentioning Dominion.
On November 30, 2020, during "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Powell alleged that "different states shaved different amounts of votes, or the system was set up to shave and flip different votes," calling it "the most massive and historical egregious fraud the world has ever seen."
That same night, November 30, 2020, on "Hannity," Powell claimed that "the machine ran an algorithm that shaved votes from Trump and awarded them to Biden," alleging that machines were used to discard Trump votes and inject large batches of votes for Joe Biden.
On December 4, 2020, on "Lou Dobbs Tonight," Dobbs asked Phil Waldron, a Trump supporter working with Powell to spread conspiracy theories, to give his sense of "who is driving all of this," after Dobbs remarked that Dominion's algorithms "were designed to be inaccurate."
On December 10, 2020, Dobbs posted a tweet calling the election a "cyber Pearl Harbor" and embedded a document claiming "an embedded controller in every Dominion machine" allowed election supervisors to transfer votes from one candidate to another.
The same allegations were featured on the "Lou Dobbs Tonight" broadcast on December 10, 2020.
Also on December 10, 2020, Dobbs tweeted a video of an interview with Powell, writing that she revealed "groundbreaking new evidence indicating our Presidential election came under massive cyber-attack orchestrated with the help of Dominion, Smartmatic, and foreign adversaries."
On December 12, 2020, during the morning program, hosts Will Cain, Pete Hegseth, and Rachel Campos-Duffy interviewed Giuliani, who claimed that the Dominion machine was "as filled with holes as Swiss cheese and was developed to steal elections."
The final broadcast cited in the lawsuit occurred on January 26, 2021, on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." Guest Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, challenged media coverage of his claims, stating, "Every outlet in the country, they go, 'Mike Lindell, there’s no evidence, and he’s making fraudulent statements.' No. I have the evidence. I dare people to put it on. I dare Dominion to sue me because then it will get out faster."
For all the interest in big-name witnesses and eye-opening private text messages, at the core of the defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News are 20 specific broadcasts and tweets in which the voting company says Fox knowingly promoted lies, destroying its reputation.
Key false quote: “We are just continuing to be inundated by evidence of all the frauds here and every manner and means of fraud you could possibly think of,” Powell said.
