Fox News has said the network reached a settlement with a Venezuelan businessman, Majed Khalil, ending a defamation case in which Khalil said he was falsely accused on air of helping to rig the 2020 US presidential election against Donald Trump.
It comes with jury selection set to begin on Thursday ahead of a separate trial in Dominion Voting Systems Corp’s $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp, over their coverage of debunked election-rigging claims.
Khalil filed a separate defamation suit against the news outlet and former host Lou Dobbs, arguing in filings that they had fabricated claims he and other Venezuelans were involved in “orchestrating a non-existent scheme to rig or fix the election”.
A short letter sent to US district judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan on Saturday said the parties had reached a “confidential agreement to resolve this matter” and expected to file a joint stipulation of dismissal next week.
“This matter has been resolved amicably by both sides,” Fox News said in a statement on Sunday when Reuters contacted the network for comment. “We have no further comment.”
Lawyers for Fox News and Dobbs referred Reuters to the statement. Khalil’s lawyer did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Trump has continued to repeat debunked claims of widespread voting fraud as reason for his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election even after they have been roundly rejected by courts, state governments and members of his own former administration.
Additional reporting by Reuters
This piece was amended on 10 April 2023. An earlier version said Fox News announced the settlement, but a network spokesperson said it confirmed the agreement when contacted by Reuters.
