Dominion CEO speaks out on $787.5m settlement with Fox News

Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos highlighted the importance of truth when speaking about the $787.5m defamation settlement with Fox News.

Mr Poulos spoke with Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday, just one day after Fox News and Dominion settled the months-long battle about false statements the media organisation aired regarding election fraud in 2020.

“We weren’t ready to settle until all of the facts that we had discovered had come to light in the public, that was something that we had committed to from the beginning,” Mr Poulos said about the settlement.

Dominion Voting Systems initially sued Fox News for $1.6bn claiming Fox News knowingly published false statements about Dominion.

Over several months after the 2020 election, Fox News repeated false claims about election fraud, attributed to Dominion Voting Systems, from former president Donald Trump and his allies.

The two companies were engaged in a defamation battle with a jury selected and opening statements already said before Fox News offered to settle.

Mr Poulos said he wasn’t surprised Fox choose until the 11th hour to settle.

“This was not the case of a media company pursuing the truth and making a mistake, they knew,” Mr Poulos said.

He added, “The fact is that they published falsehoods about us and it wasn’t just once or twice it wasn’t just on one day or two days it was 20 statements made over two and a half months.”

Mr Poulos said the entire case was not just about Fox News, it was about telling the truth and seeking accountability.

“What was important for us, was for people to people to be held account for when they recklessly and knowingly tell lies,” Mr Poulos said.

In the United States, the standard for defamation is actual malice -- which means a statement was made with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for whether or not it was false. Notably, actual malice is very difficult to prove.

Mr Poulos said the lawsuit was “devastating” for Dominion Voting Systems saying their employees and customers suffered harassment and still do because of the false statements made about them.

“If we could have our company back and undo it, we would do it in a second,” Mr Poulos added.

He called the settlement a “big step forward in democracy” as it shows that if media companies lie knowingly they will have to pay a high price.

Dominion also has pending lawsuits against Newsmax and OAN as well as individuals like Rudy Guiliani and Sidney Powell.