Key Points
- Fox News seeks to depose LA County Registrar Dean Logan over missing Smartmatic-related records as part of a legal battle between the two companies.
- A legal filing alleges Logan received undisclosed meals, travel and gifts from Smartmatic while discussing a contract with Los Angeles County.
- Los Angeles County has denied wrongdoing; a hearing on the matter is set for December.
Fox News Media, the editorial arm of Fox Corporation, has asked a judge in California to subpoena a Los Angeles County official as part of its ongoing legal battle with voting machine equipment maker Smartmatic.
In a motion filed last week, attorneys for the cable news outlet requested a subpoena against Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan, accusing the official of withholding key public records related to the county’s contracts with Smartmatic during the 2020 presidential election.
Fox News is one of several news outlets that was sued by Smartmatic several years ago over alleged defamatory remarks made by some of its political commentators and guests. Smartmatic claims remarks that suggested its voting machines improperly altered digital ballots to cast votes for former Vice President Joe Biden when citizens intended to vote for President Donald Trump, who was running as the incumbent candidate.
Biden won the 2020 presidential election, and no evidence of widespread voter or voting impropriety has ever surfaced.
Earlier this year, Fox News won a key judgment in New York that required Smartmatic to turn over documents connected to allegations of bribery against some of its executives. Last week, Smartmatic as a company was indicted on bribery charges, which are largely based on its overseas business dealings.
Now, Fox News wants to know if Smartmatic engaged in improper business dealings closer to home. The subpoena against Logan explores whether Smartmatic won business from Los Angeles County through improper means, according to a copy of the filing obtained by The Desk.
According to the filing, Fox News began seeking public records in September 2024 concerning Smartmatic’s relationship with the county and benefits Logan may have received from the company. The county produced some materials, including records showing that Logan dined with Smartmatic officials more than 30 times and that the company paid for a business-class flight and luxury hotel stay during a 2019 trip to Taiwan.
But attorneys representing Fox News say the county hasn’t turned over completed records, and note that there are several documents still missing, including calendar entries, receipts, travel records and portions of text message-based conversations.
The attorneys say only Logan can explain those omissions. The motion says the county’s prior designee to fulfill records, its Chief Information Officer, lacked knowledge of whether records stored on personal devices, messaging apps or non-Microsoft platforms were ever searched.
The filing also points to what it describes as “suspicious gaps” in Logan’s text communications with Smartmatic officials during key contract periods, including a yearlong break coinciding with the 2022 approval of a multimillion-dollar Smartmatic agreement.
Fox News further claims that Logan failed to disclose on state ethics forms numerous meals, gifts and trips allegedly paid for by Smartmatic, some of which should have been reported under California’s financial disclosure laws. The filing asserts that Smartmatic coordinated Logan’s travel to the Maldives and Taiwan, covered travel costs for his wife, and hosted him at high-end restaurants and the members-only Magic Castle club in Hollywood.
The cable network has asked a judge to compel Logan to sit through a deposition on the matter within the next 30 days. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for December 10.
Glaser Weil, a law firm retained by Los Angeles County, says local government officials have complied with all records requests, and that Logan’s interactions with Smartmatic were consistent with policy and law.
In earlier court proceedings, attorneys for Los Angeles County dismissed the allegations as unfounded, arguing that Logan’s benefits occurred after Smartmatic’s contracts were awarded and were related to official business.
Smartmatic is one of two voting-related companies that sued Fox News over defamation connected to its coverage of the 2020 election. The other, Dominion Voting Systems, settled with Fox News for $787.5 million in 2023.
