Fox News settles with Venezuelan businessman over 2020 election rigging claims

Fox News reached a settlement with Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil in an election defamation lawsuit, the news outlet announced on Sunday. 

Khalil filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and former host Lou Dobbs after he was accused on air of helping rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election against Donald Trump.

In the defamation claim, the businessman said he and other Venezuelans were accused of being involved in “orchestrating a non-existing scheme to rig or fix the election.”

On December 10, 2020, Dobbs posted a tweet saying that the election was a “Cyber Pearl Harbor” and included a document that named Khalil as the “effective ‘COO’ of the election project, under Chavez and Maduro.”

The same day, Dobbs interviewed attorney Sidney Powell, who claimed that Khalil and three others “designed and developed the Smartmatic and Dominion programs and machines that include a controller module that allows people to log in and manipulate the vote even as it’s happening.”

"This matter has been resolved amicably by both sides. We have no further comment," Fox News said in a statement on Sunday.

“The parties are pleased to jointly inform the court that they have reached a confidential agreement to resolve this matter,” attorneys for Khalil and the network wrote in a filing to U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton. “The parties anticipate filing a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice early next week.”

The settlement comes days before the jury selection of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit that Fox News is defending. Dominion Voting Systems claims that Fox News lied about voter fraud in the 2020 election and that the news outlet has repeatedly made false claims about their machines. The trial is expected to begin on April 17.