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- Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit filed by Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil.
- Khalil was accused on air of rigging the 2020 presidential election by then Fox host Lou Dobbs.
- The network faces a slew of lawsuits, with jury selection imminent in the $1.6 billion Dominion trial.
Fox News said on Sunday that it had settled a lawsuit filed by Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil, who accused the news outlet of defamation after then-Fox News host Lou Dobbs claimed on air that Khalil helped rig the 2020 US presidential election.
Shortly after the election, Dobbs took to Twitter to call it a “cyber Pearl harbor” and said that Khalil was a “liaison with Hezbollah” who had executed an “electoral 9-11.”
The former Fox host also accused Khalil and other Venezuelans of being involved in a scheme to oust former president Donald Trump.
Khalil filed a $250 million lawsuit against Dobbs, Fox News, and former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell in December 2021.
The case against Fox was settled on confidential terms, and is “amicably” resolved, a Fox News representative said, without giving further details.
But the network still faces major legal battles related to its coverage of Trump’s election loss.
Dobbs’ show was canceled by Fox in February 2021 after he was named in election company Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion suit against Fox.
The London-based technology firm accused the network of broadcasting more than 100 false claims, including the assertion that Smartmatic shared its technology with rival company Dominion Voting Systems, the Guardian reported.
Dominion’s mammoth $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp, which it filed after Fox accused the company of using its voting machines to aid Joe Biden’s victory, has garnered the most attention.
That lawsuit has already significantly damaged the network’s reputation, which has been marred by accusations of electoral misinformation, as well as its role in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
The trial is set to begin on April 17, with some of Fox’s most controversial personalities — Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo — poised to make an appearance.
The outcome could be disastrous for the network, especially after some individuals working at Fox admitted to “putting lies out in the air,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said.
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