by TDominion Voting Systems, a Denver-based maker of voting machines, faces a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.
In a 192-page court filing released Feb. 16, which includes private messages from many of the network’s biggest stars, Dominion argues, “Fox knew from top to bottom that ‘the Dominion stuff’ was ‘total bs.’ “
“Yet, despite Fox knowing the truth — or at least recklessly ignoring that truth — Fox propagated and supported these ‘outlandish allegations of voter fraud’ about Dominion, even though it internally viewed the lies as ‘insane,’ ‘absurd,’ and ‘frighteningly reckless.’ “, says the file.
However, Fox’s attorneys have argued that Dominion mischaracterized the record and “the facts by cherry picking” and “omitting key context” and have accused the company of demanding a “staggering” damages sum to grab headlines. to silence protected speech and enrich its owner, Staple Street Capital Partners, and its investors.
“Dominion has filed this lawsuit to punish Fox News Network for covering one of the biggest stories of the day – claims by the incumbent President of the United States and his Vice Presidents that the 2020 election was affected by fraud,” it said the company in a counterclaim.
“The mere fact of these allegations was newsworthy.”
Fox lawyers argue that when the voting tech companies dismissed the allegations made by Mr Trump and his deputies, Fox News aired those denials while some of its hosts offered protected opinion commentary on the allegations.
Fox has claimed that the “heart” of the case is freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights granted and protected by the Constitution New York Times vs. Sullivan.”
A five-week trial is scheduled to begin on April 17.
Although the network’s top officials and anchors privately admit that then-President Trump and his allies lied, the network continued to bring them on the air to reinforce those claims, which also spurred competing right-wing media networks that appeared to be threatening Fox viewership to court records.
Here’s a brief rundown of some of the claims in court documents, which collect affidavits and inside messages from prominent Fox News figures such as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, and owner Rupert Murdoch, detailing coverage of the aftermath of the election 2020 will be discussed.
Murdoch admits top Fox figures have ‘endorsed’ false election claims
The leader of the conservative media empire said that moderators like Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro “at times advocated this false notion of a stolen election,” claiming the former president and his allies continue to step up amid another election seeks election to office in 2024.
“I would have liked us to denounce it more in hindsight,” Murdoch said in a testimony, according to court documents.
Murdoch provided Jared Kushner with information about the Biden campaign
The veteran mogul is said to have provided Mr Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, “confidential information about Biden’s ads, as well as a debate strategy (thereby providing Mr Kushner a preview of Mr Biden’s ads before they were published)” in a Dominion filing .
Anchors were furious with the (correct) decision to call Arizona for Biden
Fox’s top-flight anchors privately lamented the network’s biggest election night call, according to the filing, with Mr Hannity complaining in a text on November 12, 2020: “In one week and one debate they destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the Damage is unpredictable.”
He is said to have told it later fox and friends Host Steve Doocy: “You don’t piss off the base.”
Mr Carlson told him: “I’ve heard from angry viewers every hour of the day all weekend, including at dinner tonight,” to which Mr Hannity replied: “Same, same. That has never happened before.”
On election night, Mr Kushner called Mr Murdoch and said, according to a Dominion file, “This is awful”.
“And I could hear Trump’s voice screaming in the background,” Murdoch, quoted in the filing, said.
“And I said, ‘Well, the numbers are the numbers,'” the filing reads.
Mr Murdoch and Fox leadership met days after Election Day over concerns about “increasing viewer backlash on Fox” after the network correctly predicted Mr Biden Arizona had won, but the network agreed to make “wild claims” to spread that Mr Trump’s election was stolen while “Fox News’s positive impressions” among its viewers “fell to their lowest point post election day,” the network had seen.
At one point, Mr Murdoch suggested that longtime Fox News Vice President Bill Sammon, despite his accuracy, should be “released immediately” to “send a big message to the Trump people” to “release immediately,” according to court documents . .
Carlson called for the network’s White House correspondent to be fired
In a message allegedly sent to a group chat with Ms Ingraham and Mr Hannity on Nov. 12, Mr Carlson pointed to a tweet from the network’s White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, in which she reviewed a post by Mr Trump , in which voter fraud alleged that “high-level officials in the electoral infrastructure” had declared, “There is no evidence that any electoral system has erased or lost votes, altered votes, or been compromised in any way.”
Mr Carlson responded by saying: “Please have them fired. Seriously… what the hell? I’m actually shocked… It needs to stop immediately tonight, like tonight. This harms the company immeasurably. The share price has gone down. No joke.”
Murdoch considered having stars appear together to declare Biden the winner
The tycoon reportedly considered asking Mr Hannity, Mr Carlson and Ms Ingraham to jointly deliver a prime-time address in which they publicly stated that Mr Biden had legitimately won the White House and that cheating played no part in the outcome have.
Doing so “would go a long way in stopping the Trump myth that the election was stolen,” he told CEO Suzanne Scott on Jan. 5, 2021, according to a Dominion filing.
Carlson called Trump a ‘demonic force’
In a concerned text to his producer Alex Pfeiffer about the dangers of angering Mr Trump over his coverage of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, Mr Carlson describes him as “a demonic force, a destroyer,” adding, “But he will not destroy us.”
“What he’s good at is destroying things,” he wrote, according to court records. “He is the undisputed world champion at it. He could easily destroy us if we play wrong.”
Murdoch urges Fox CEO to ‘help in any way we can’ in Georgia
The mogul emailed Ms. Scott on Nov. 16 with a link to an article in The Wall Street Journal via rival Fox network Newsmax.
“These people should be watched, albeit skeptically,” he told her before advising her to devote coverage to the Georgia Senate runoff and the promotion of GOP candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both of whom ultimately opposed the Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock and losing would be Jon Osoff.
Mr Murdoch continued: “Trump will eventually back down and we should focus on Georgia and help where we can. While we don’t want to further upset Trump, we hit (Rudy) Giuliani with a big grain of salt. Everything is at stake here.”
Rupert Murdoch, CEO of Fox Corporation
(AP)
High-ranking figures embarrassed by Giuliani’s antics
It wasn’t just Mr. Murdoch who had doubts about former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to push the voter fraud narrative.
A Dominion file collects messages from other Fox stars concerned about his performances, with Mr Hannity noting on November 11: “Rudy is acting like a crazy person.”
Ms Ingraham said on December 12 he was “such a jerk” and Lou Dobbs producer John Fawcett said on January 3 the veteran politician was “so full of shit”.
Trump’s attorney passed on the “Wackadoodle” election conspiracy tip
Sidney Powell, one of the most prominent lawyers who pushed Mr Trump’s phony legal effort to overturn the election results, has reportedly forwarded an email she received from an anonymous tipster to Ms Bartiromo, in which she herself admitted to be “pretty crazy” and claimed that Dominion machines are the “common thread” that “ties together voting irregularities in a number of states.”
This sender also apparently believed that the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was “willfully killed at the Bohemian Grove annual camp…during a week-long manhunt expedition,” and wrote, “Who am I?” And how do I know all this? … I’ve had the strangest dreams since I was a little girl… I was decapitated inside, and yet I’m alive… The wind tells me I’m a ghost, but I don’t I don’t believe it. “
Elsewhere, Mr Carlson accused Ms Powell of lying and called her a “f***ing b****”. Ms Ingraham said of her: “Sidney is a complete nut. Nobody will work with her. Ditto Rudi.”
Sidney Powell during a press briefing in Georgia, December 2020
(Reuters)
Jeanine Pirro is described as “crazy” by colleagues
Ms. Pirro’s producers said Nov. 7 that they believed she was “looking for a job elsewhere,” and feared her exchanges with guests about whether or not the election was stolen would not be productive, according to court documents.
“They took her off because she was crazy,” wrote producer Justin Wells. “Optics are bad. But she’s crazy.”
Fox sent Mike Lindell a present
MyPillow founder and prominent voter fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell quickly became one of the most ardent supporters of the false narrative that Mr Trump’s election was stolen as he appeared on rival right-wing media networks. Fox News seemed concerned when Mr Lindell criticized the network during an interview with Newsmax.
Ms Scott duly sent him a gift with a handwritten note in hopes of winning him over, documents claim.
This story was first published on February 17th and has been updated with developments and comments
