By Jack Queen
(Reuters) - Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, two allies of former U.S. President Donald Trump, must answer questions under oath in voting technology company Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit against right-wing media outlet Newsmax, court records showed on Wednesday.
Florida-based Smartmatic served subpoenas on Bannon, who served as a White House strategist under Trump, and Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser, on Wednesday, according to documents filed in Delaware state court.
Bannon and Flynn, both of whom have faced their own legal woes, were two of the most vocal boosters of Trump's false claims that the 2020 U.S. election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, and they could have information on the spread of these claims that might help Smartmatic in the litigation.
Smartmatic has accused Newsmax of knowingly spreading false claims that the voting software maker was part of a scheme to rig the election against Trump, who was seeking re-election, and in favor Democratic rival Joe Biden, who won.
The company is seeking a total of $2.7 billion in damages across five cases, including against Fox, several of its hosts and former Trump lawyers. Smartmatic's case has played out alongside a similar defamation lawsuit against Fox News and Fox Corp by Dominion Voting Systems, which settled on the eve of trial in April for $787 million.
Bannon and Flynn representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did...
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