In the Smartmatic v. Fox News lawsuit, Maria Bartiromo is one of seven original defendants named alongside the network, sued personally for defamation over interviews and segments she hosted in November 2020 that promoted false claims Smartmatic’s voting technology helped rig the presidential election. Her motion to dismiss the claims against her was denied, and court filings from the case have exposed private messages, deposition testimony, and a compensation figure that have kept her at the center of the litigation. The $2.7 billion case remains pending in New York State Supreme Court, with no trial date as of mid-2026.
Why Bartiromo Is a Defendant
Smartmatic filed suit in February 2021, naming Fox Corporation, Fox News Network, Bartiromo, hosts Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs, former Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani, and attorney Sidney Powell.1NPR. Fox News Smartmatic Lawsuit Election Claims Trial The complaint alleges that in the weeks after the 2020 election, Fox promoted false narratives that Smartmatic’s machines switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, that its systems were hacked, and that the company was tied to corrupt foreign interests.2Reuters. Newsmax Agreed to Pay $40 Million to Settle Defamation Suit Over 2020 False Election Smartmatic contends Fox aired the claims despite knowing they were false, in order to recapture viewers who had migrated to rival networks after Fox called Arizona for Biden on election night.
Bartiromo, who hosts Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News and Mornings with Maria on Fox Business, occupies an unusual position among the host defendants. Unlike opinion hosts, she has identified herself as a news anchor, which raised the editorial expectations colleagues and executives placed on her coverage.3Los Angeles Times. Fox News Anchor Maria Bartiromo Dominion Defamation Suit She had joined Fox in January 2014 after 20 years at CNBC.4Bartiromo.com. Maria Bartiromo Official Site
Court filings describe her as a central conduit for election fraud claims on the network. On November 8, 2020, she hosted Sidney Powell on Sunday Morning Futures and invited her to lay out alleged voting irregularities, telling viewers, “I know there were voting irregularities. Tell me about that.”5ABC News. Fox News Hosts Allegedly Privately Versus Air False Bartiromo also repeated inaccurate claims that Dominion Voting Systems was owned by Smartmatic and aired allegations that Dominion’s technology had been designed in Venezuela to aid Hugo Chávez.3Los Angeles Times. Fox News Anchor Maria Bartiromo Dominion Defamation Suit
What Her Private Messages Show
The filings pair the on-air conduct with private communications that Smartmatic argues prove actual malice, the legal standard required to defame a public figure.
The day before she hosted Powell, Bartiromo privately described an email from Powell containing purported fraud evidence as “kooky.”5ABC News. Fox News Hosts Allegedly Privately Versus Air False According to a Dominion Voting Systems legal brief, that email cited a source who described their own assertions as “pretty wackadoodle” and who claimed to experience “time-travel in a semi-conscious state.” Despite that, Bartiromo replied to Powell: “I just spoke to Eric [Trump] & told him you gave very imp info.”6NPR. Fox News Dominion Wackadoodle Election Fraud Claim In her deposition, she agreed the email was “nonsense.”
An email Bartiromo sent to her producer the day before that same interview went further. “We have to go to a full on war,” she wrote. “They have used all systems to defraud.” She added: “The country needs to survive. We have to keep this president. Noone thinks anyway that people voted for Biden.”7NBC News. Dominion Releases Previously Redacted Slides Fox News Lawsuit
Filings from the Smartmatic case separately revealed a text Bartiromo sent to Powell: “I am very worried. Please please please overturn this. Bring the evidence, I know you can.”8First Amendment Encyclopedia, MTSU. Defamation Case Against Fox News Highlights Role of Its Hosts in Promoting 2020 Election Falsehoods She also texted Steve Bannon: “I want to see massive fraud exposed. Will [Trump] be able to turn this around. I told my team we’re not allowed to say pres elect. Not in scripts. Not in banners on air.”3Los Angeles Times. Fox News Anchor Maria Bartiromo Dominion Defamation Suit
Bartiromo’s private skepticism showed up in the Dominion litigation too, where David Clark, a senior Fox executive overseeing weekend shows, testified under oath that he “would not have allowed that claim to be aired” had he known the sole basis for the fraud theories was Powell’s discredited memo.6NPR. Fox News Dominion Wackadoodle Election Fraud Claim
Her $70 Million Compensation Disclosure
In November 2025, tens of thousands of exhibits from the Smartmatic case were unsealed. Among them was a deposition transcript in which Bartiromo confirmed her total Fox compensation, from her 2014 start through a contract running into 2025, exceeded $70 million.9Yahoo News. Maria Bartiromo 70 Million Fox The figure drew attention against reported annual salaries for other Fox hosts: Sean Hannity at $25 million, Greg Gutfeld at $9 million, and Jesse Watters at $5 million.10TV Insider. Fox News Maria Bartiromo Salary Hannity Gutfeld Jesse Watters
The disclosure matters to the lawsuit because Smartmatic argues Fox and its hosts had a commercial motive to keep airing fraud claims. A text from Jesse Watters to Greg Gutfeld on December 5, 2020, is part of the record: “Think about how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went ALL in on STOP THE STEAL.” Smartmatic’s summary judgment filing frames these disclosures as evidence that Fox leadership, worried about losing viewers to Newsmax after the Arizona call, decided to “give the audience more election fraud.”11Los Angeles Times. Fox News Smartmatic L.A. County Story
Where the Case Against Her Stands
Bartiromo’s motion to dismiss all claims against her was denied, and defamation claims against her remain active.12New York Courts. Smartmatic v Fox Corp, Index No. 151136/21 Fox News Network’s motion was also denied. The other defendants have followed different paths: claims against Pirro and Giuliani were initially dismissed and then reinstated on appeal; Lou Dobbs’s motion to dismiss was denied, and after his death in July 2024, Justice David B. Cohen allowed his wife, Debi Dobbs, to substitute as his representative;13Courthouse News Service. Voting Company’s Defamation Case Against Fox News Resumes After Monthslong Pause all claims against Powell were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction;14NBC News. Judge Says Smartmatic Can Pursue Election Rigging Claims Against Fox and Fox Corporation’s claims were dismissed without prejudice.
Bartiromo has argued, along with Fox, that her coverage involved legitimate reporting on newsworthy allegations made by the Trump campaign and that the broadcasts did not meet the actual-malice standard.15ABC News. Fox News Smartmatic File Dueling Motions Summary Judgment Fox has also contended that Smartmatic’s reputation and business suffered because of its own foreign business dealings, not because of anything Fox broadcast.16Yahoo Entertainment. Fox News Host Maria Bartiromo
On April 30, 2025, both sides filed competing motions for summary judgment. Smartmatic argued that “twenty-eight of the fact witnesses admitted they have no evidence to support any of the allegations” and that Fox acted with “reckless disregard for the truth.”1NPR. Fox News Smartmatic Lawsuit Election Claims Trial Fox called the suit a “meritless cash grab” and said its hosts genuinely believed the claims they broadcast were newsworthy.15ABC News. Fox News Smartmatic File Dueling Motions Summary Judgment Justice Cohen heard oral arguments on December 2, 2025, and reporting from the hearing said he “appeared skeptical of one component of Smartmatic’s motion.”17New York Law Journal. A Hard Sell: Voting Machine Co. Says Judge, Not Jury, Should Decide Key Issue in Fox News Defamation Case As of mid-2026 he had not ruled.
The case was then pushed back into pretrial. On May 7, 2026, the Appellate Division, First Department, granted Fox additional discovery tied to a federal criminal case against Smartmatic and two executives over alleged Philippine bribery, specifically as it relates to Smartmatic’s claimed lost profits in Venezuela and Los Angeles County. The appellate court vacated the Note of Issue, effectively pulling the case off the trial track. It also refused Fox’s request to freeze the entire defamation case pending the criminal proceedings, finding a bribery prosecution involving the Philippines would not be “decisive” of defamation claims about the 2020 U.S. election.18New York Courts. Smartmatic USA Corp v Fox Corp, Index No. 151136/21
How This Compares to the Dominion Case
Bartiromo was a central figure in the earlier Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit against Fox as well, with filings there revealing similar private doubts, communications with political operatives, and internal criticism from colleagues.3Los Angeles Times. Fox News Anchor Maria Bartiromo Dominion Defamation Suit Dominion sought $1.6 billion and settled in April 2023 for $787.5 million just before trial.19Hollywood Reporter. Fox Shareholder Lawsuit Smartmatic separately sued Newsmax and settled that case in September 2024 for $40 million payable over time, plus some Newsmax equity.20Axios. Newsmax Smartmatic Defamation Lawsuit 40 Million Settle Smartmatic’s attorney Erik Connolly has argued that Fox’s financial exposure in the pending case exceeds even the Dominion settlement.15ABC News. Fox News Smartmatic File Dueling Motions Summary Judgment Because the Dominion case settled, Bartiromo never had to testify at trial about her conduct. Whether that happens in the Smartmatic case depends on how Justice Cohen rules on summary judgment, what the reopened discovery produces, and whether Fox chooses to settle before a jury is seated.