An individual walks past Fox News Headquarters on the News Corporation constructing on May 03, 2022 in Recent York City.
Alexi Rosenfeld | Getty Images
Rupert Murdoch and Fox News hosts expressed disbelief in former President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims, in keeping with evidence released from Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp and its cable-TV networks.
In court papers filed Thursday, text messages and testimony from depositions show that Fox executives and TV personalities were skeptical about claims that the election between the victorious Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, was rigged.
The discharge follows months of discovery and depositions which have remained private until Thursday, when the businesses filed court papers before a Delaware judge laying out each of their cases and unveiling recently gathered evidence. The documents were revealed hours after authorities in Georgia released a small portion of a grand jury report regarding a separate criminal probe into Trump’s alleged election meddling in that state.
Dominion brought the defamation lawsuit against Fox and its right wing cable networks, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing the networks and its anchors made false claims that its voting machines rigged the outcomes of the 2020 election.
“Really crazy stuff. And damaging,” Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch said in an email on Nov. 19, days after the election, regarding claims Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was making on Fox News.
Top Fox News anchors like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham expressed disbelief in what Sydney Powell, a pro-Trump attorney who had aggressively promoted claims of election fraud, had said on the time, too.
“Sydney Powell is lying,” Tucker Carlson said in a text message to his producer. Meanwhile Laura Ingraham said in a message to Carlson: “Sidney is a whole nut. Nobody will work together with her. Ditto with Rudy.”
“It’s unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people they usually imagine it,” Carlson responded, in keeping with court papers. These messages got here within the weeks following the election.
Rudolph Giuliani and Sidney Powell, attorneys for President Donald Trump, conduct a news conference on the Republican National Committee on lawsuits regarding the final result of the 2020 presidential election on Thursday, November 19, 2020.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Dominion said in court papers that Fox admitted that Hannity and Lou Dobbs’ shows didn’t “challenge the narrative” that Dominion was liable for rigging the election or producing inaccurate results.
On Thursday, each Fox Corp and Fox News also filed their very own motions for summary judgment. Fox Corp, which saw its push to have the case dismissed denied by the court, said in court papers that following a 12 months of discovery, the record within the case shows it had “no role within the creation and publication of the challenged statements – all of which aired on either Fox Business Network or Fox News Channel.”
In recent months Murdoch, in addition to his son Lachlan Murdoch, the Fox Corp CEO, faced depositions as a part of the lawsuit.
Fox News said once more in court papers that it “fulfilled its commitment to tell fully and comment fairly,” on the claims that Dominion rigged the election against Trump.
“There shall be quite a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, however the core of this case stays about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, that are fundamental rights afforded by the Structure and guarded by Recent York Times v. Sullivan,” Fox said in an announcement issued Thursday.
A Dominion spokesperson didn’t comment and its private-equity owner, Staple Street Capital, didn’t reply to comment.
“Here, nevertheless, overwhelming direct evidence establishes Fox’s knowledge of falsity, not only ‘doubts,'” Dominion said in court papers Thursday, pointing to multiple defamatory statements.
Dominion pointed to the audience backlash Fox News faced on the 2020 election night when it called Arizona for Joe Biden, later seeing competing right wing networks like Newsmax reap the benefits of the opening with the audience.
Dominion’s findings point to hosts including Carlson, Ingraham and Sean Hannity understanding “the threat to them personally.” Dominion points to messages Carlson sent to his producer on Nov. 5, “We worked really hard to construct what we’ve got. Those f—-ers are destroying our credibility. It enrages me.”
The case is being watched closely by First Amendment watchdogs and experts. Libel lawsuits are typically centered around one falsehood. On this case Dominion cites a lengthy list of examples of Fox TV hosts making false claims even after they were proven to be unfaithful. Media corporations are sometimes broadly protected by the First Amendment.
These cases are typically settled out of court or dismissed quickly. However the Delaware judge overseeing the case has up to now dismissed such requests. The trial is slated to start in mid-April.
Last week, during a standing conference, Dominion’s attorney called out concerns that some evidence, corresponding to board meeting minutes and the outcomes of searches of non-public drives, had yet to be produced by Fox and its TV networks.