The stunning news package featured an interview with voting technology expert Eddie Perez, who poured cold water on a range of conspiracy theories expanded and promoted at Dobbs, Piro and Bertiromo’s shows.
Perez said he did not see any evidence, for example, that smartmatic software was used to manipulate the election or that there was a direct link between the company and liberal socialist billionaire George Soros.
As Trump continued to attack the integrity of the voting system, some of his allies turned to Smartmatic because of the services it provided to Los Angeles County for the 2020 election.
Some strain of the conspiracy theory aims to link the company to Soros and finally to Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
When asked to comment on the surreal news package that Fox aired, Smartmatic’s attorney Eric Connolly told CNN, “We can’t comment because of possible legal action.” A Fox News spokeswoman referred to CNN back in the segment and made no further comment.
In a December 10 legal notice to Fox News, Smartmatic identified several instances in which conspiracy theories were spread over the air by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani or former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell. The legal notice, which states that they have no truth to the claims made about Chavez and Soros, also identified instances in which Dobbs and Bertiromo helped spread false information.
Perez, who has a history that gives insights to news organizations, told CNN on Saturday afternoon that the process of meeting with Fox was unusual. Perez said that, for example, the network would not tell him who shows which part would be aired and he found it strange that the interview was not conducted by an on-air reporter or host.
“I was never informed that this material would be for Mr. Dobbs’ show,” Perez told CNN. “And my reaction was to observe, how strange and unique it was in particular when presenting the facts.”
Perez added, “I wouldn’t get in the habit of looking at the factual evidence in front of Lou Dobbs very directly,” noting that it was unusual for a news package to end with a comment from Dobbs and then a commercial break.
Perez said, “I think my main reaction was surprising and it was very interesting to see for myself how the interview ultimately played out because I was given no reason to expect that nature.”
Perez also said he was not made aware before the interview that the questions would focus solely on Smartmatic.
“I had nothing in the initial conversation with Fox News that gave me any indication that there would be a smartmatic conversation,” Perez said. “It was never mentioned whether there would be a discussion about this smartmatic or even a claim about private vendors. I expected an extensive discussion about the election, the integrity of the election, and further discussion.”
Asked to describe Fox’s coverage of the election, Perez said his on-air talent has made allegations that “it is speculative and not based on facts, many of which are detrimental to increasing public confidence in the legitimacy of election results.”
But Perez thanked Fox for allowing the facts to be delivered to the audience uncontrollably.
“I think it’s important to talk to Fox News,” Perez told CNN, “if anything is more important than telling his audience the truth because there are so many Fox News subscribers who are skeptical about the election.”
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