Fox News personalities and executives privately made clear they didn’t believe falsehoods being peddled by former President Donald Trump and his allies about fraud in the 2020 election despite pushing them on-air, a new court filing by Dominion Voting Systems alleges, part of a billion-dollar defamation suit the voting company is waging to hold Fox liable for its on-air claims.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson speaks during the 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards on November 17, 2022 … [+] in Hollywood, Florida.
Getty Images
Key Facts
Dominion filed a motion for summary judgment with the court as part of its long-running defamation suit against Fox News, which included significant evidence that had previously not been made public in the case—most notably Fox officials allegedly denying the far-right conspiracy theory linking Dominion voting machines to election fraud.
Host Tucker Carlson said in text messages that far-right attorney Sidney Powell “is lying” and called her claims “insane” and “absurd,” saying it was “shockingly reckless” to push the Dominion fraud claims and Powell was “poison,” an “unguided missile” and “dangerous as hell” and he “hope[s]
she’s punished.”
Carlson also wrote after the January 6 attack that Trump is “a demonic force, a destroyer,” and told host Laura Ingraham he “had to make” the Trump White House “disavow” Powell’s comments, calling her a “nut.”
Host Sean Hannity testified he “did not believe … for one second” that Powell’s voter fraud claims were true and it was “obvious” Powell’s allegations were false when she appeared on his program, also saying far-right attorney Rudy Giuliani was “acting like an insane person” and calling the lawyers “f’ing lunatics.”
Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott also testified she “had a number of conversations with [Hannity] where he wanted the President to accept the results” and said he had believed President Joe Biden had lawfully won the election “for some time.”
Ingraham called Powell a “complete nut” and added “ditto with Rudy [Giuliani]
,” telling Carlson that “no serious lawyer could believe what they were saying” and calling Giuliani “such an idiot.”
Fox host Lou Dobbs, who repeatedly hosted Powell on his program, agreed under oath that it was “false” to say that Powell revealed evidence of voter fraud on his show, and Dominion alleges that no Fox witness has testified there’s any evidence of voter fraud involving Dominion machines.
Powell’s evidence for her voter fraud claims was based on an email from someone who claimed to be “internally decapitated” and said, “the wind tells me I’m a ghost, but I don’t believe it”—a message that Fox host Maria Bartiromo acknowledged under oath was “nonsense” and “kooky,” but she still put Powell and her claims on her program anyway.
Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch called Giuliani’s allegations “really crazy stuff” and “damaging,” said he should be taken “with a large grain of salt” and called the fact he was advising Trump “really bad.”
Fox Corporation Executive Raj Shah called the voter fraud claims “mind blowingly nuts” and said in a text message to Carlson’s producer Alex Pfeiffer, “So many people openly denying the obvious that Powell is clearly full of it,” to which Pfeiffer responded that Powell is a “f–king nutcase.”
Fox host Dana Perino described the Dominion fraud allegations in texts and emails as “total bs,” “insane” and “nonsense,” writing, “Where the hell did they even get this Venezuela tie to Dominion? I mean wtf.”
Fox host Brett Baier said on November 5, “There is NO evidence of fraud. None.”
Crucial Quote
“Fox witness after witness has admitted under oath that they have not seen evidence proving Dominion stole the 2020 Presidential Election or that they do not believe Dominion did,” Dominion alleged in its filing. “Not a single Fox witness has presented evidence that Dominion rigged the 2020 election because no evidence, documentary or otherwise, suggests it.”
Chief Critic
“There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan,” Fox said in a statement in response to the court filing Thursday. A spokesperson for the network further argued the filing “takes an extreme and unsupported view of defamation law” and accused the voting company of “mischaracteriz[ing] the record, cherry-pick[ing] quotes stripped of key context, and spill[ing] considerable ink on facts that are irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law.”
What To Watch For
Both Dominion and Fox News have filed motions for summary judgment that ask the court to make a ruling in the case without it going to trial, which the court will now consider. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in April in Delaware, which it will if their motions fail. Dominion is asking Fox to pay $1.6 billion in damages if the state court rules in the voting company’s favor.
Contra
Fox News’ own motion for summary judgment defends the company’s airing of the Dominion fraud claims, alleging the company was justified in airing the fraud allegations because they were newsworthy and the comments made on the network are protected First Amendment speech. “Fox News did exactly what the First Amendment protects: It ensured that the public had access to newsmakers and newsworthy information that would help foster ‘uninhibited, robust, and wide-open’ debate on rapidly developing events of unparalleled importance,” the motion alleged.
Key Background
Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox News is one of more than a dozen defamation challenges that the company and competitor Smartmatic have filed in the wake of the 2020 election, after the allegations linking their voting machines to fraud gained widespread traction on the right. Dominion is also suing Powell and Giuliani directly, along with MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell; right-wing networks One America News and Newsmax and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, and Smartmatic is suing all of the same defendants except for Byrne. Dominion is also separately suing Fox Corporation in addition to the Fox News lawsuit, seeking to hold Fox executives including Murdoch and his son Lachlan liable for the fraud claims after they tried to evade responsibility in the Fox News suit. None of the defamation lawsuits have yet been resolved in court, but Dominion and Smartmatic’s cases have so far kept moving forward as courts have largely rejected motions to dismiss the litigation. The Fox News case may be the first to reach a conclusion, as the April trial date is sooner than other cases are expected to be heard.
Fox News Hosts And Execs Repeatedly Denounced 2020 Election Fraud Off-Air—Here Are Their Most Scathing Comments
Topline
Fox News personalities and executives privately made clear they didn’t believe falsehoods being peddled by former President Donald Trump and his allies about fraud in the 2020 election despite pushing them on-air, a new court filing by Dominion Voting Systems alleges, part of a billion-dollar defamation suit the voting company is waging to hold Fox liable for its on-air claims.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson speaks during the 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards on November 17, 2022 … [+] in Hollywood, Florida.
Key Facts
Dominion filed a motion for summary judgment with the court as part of its long-running defamation suit against Fox News, which included significant evidence that had previously not been made public in the case—most notably Fox officials allegedly denying the far-right conspiracy theory linking Dominion voting machines to election fraud.
Host Tucker Carlson said in text messages that far-right attorney Sidney Powell “is lying” and called her claims “insane” and “absurd,” saying it was “shockingly reckless” to push the Dominion fraud claims and Powell was “poison,” an “unguided missile” and “dangerous as hell” and he “hope[s]
she’s punished.”
Carlson also wrote after the January 6 attack that Trump is “a demonic force, a destroyer,” and told host Laura Ingraham he “had to make” the Trump White House “disavow” Powell’s comments, calling her a “nut.”
Host Sean Hannity testified he “did not believe … for one second” that Powell’s voter fraud claims were true and it was “obvious” Powell’s allegations were false when she appeared on his program, also saying far-right attorney Rudy Giuliani was “acting like an insane person” and calling the lawyers “f’ing lunatics.”
Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott also testified she “had a number of conversations with [Hannity] where he wanted the President to accept the results” and said he had believed President Joe Biden had lawfully won the election “for some time.”
Ingraham called Powell a “complete nut” and added “ditto with Rudy [Giuliani]
,” telling Carlson that “no serious lawyer could believe what they were saying” and calling Giuliani “such an idiot.”
Fox host Lou Dobbs, who repeatedly hosted Powell on his program, agreed under oath that it was “false” to say that Powell revealed evidence of voter fraud on his show, and Dominion alleges that no Fox witness has testified there’s any evidence of voter fraud involving Dominion machines.
Powell’s evidence for her voter fraud claims was based on an email from someone who claimed to be “internally decapitated” and said, “the wind tells me I’m a ghost, but I don’t believe it”—a message that Fox host Maria Bartiromo acknowledged under oath was “nonsense” and “kooky,” but she still put Powell and her claims on her program anyway.
Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch called Giuliani’s allegations “really crazy stuff” and “damaging,” said he should be taken “with a large grain of salt” and called the fact he was advising Trump “really bad.”
Fox Corporation Executive Raj Shah called the voter fraud claims “mind blowingly nuts” and said in a text message to Carlson’s producer Alex Pfeiffer, “So many people openly denying the obvious that Powell is clearly full of it,” to which Pfeiffer responded that Powell is a “f–king nutcase.”
Fox host Dana Perino described the Dominion fraud allegations in texts and emails as “total bs,” “insane” and “nonsense,” writing, “Where the hell did they even get this Venezuela tie to Dominion? I mean wtf.”
Fox host Brett Baier said on November 5, “There is NO evidence of fraud. None.”
Crucial Quote
“Fox witness after witness has admitted under oath that they have not seen evidence proving Dominion stole the 2020 Presidential Election or that they do not believe Dominion did,” Dominion alleged in its filing. “Not a single Fox witness has presented evidence that Dominion rigged the 2020 election because no evidence, documentary or otherwise, suggests it.”
Chief Critic
“There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan,” Fox said in a statement in response to the court filing Thursday. A spokesperson for the network further argued the filing “takes an extreme and unsupported view of defamation law” and accused the voting company of “mischaracteriz[ing] the record, cherry-pick[ing] quotes stripped of key context, and spill[ing] considerable ink on facts that are irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law.”
What To Watch For
Both Dominion and Fox News have filed motions for summary judgment that ask the court to make a ruling in the case without it going to trial, which the court will now consider. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in April in Delaware, which it will if their motions fail. Dominion is asking Fox to pay $1.6 billion in damages if the state court rules in the voting company’s favor.
Contra
Fox News’ own motion for summary judgment defends the company’s airing of the Dominion fraud claims, alleging the company was justified in airing the fraud allegations because they were newsworthy and the comments made on the network are protected First Amendment speech. “Fox News did exactly what the First Amendment protects: It ensured that the public had access to newsmakers and newsworthy information that would help foster ‘uninhibited, robust, and wide-open’ debate on rapidly developing events of unparalleled importance,” the motion alleged.
Key Background
Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox News is one of more than a dozen defamation challenges that the company and competitor Smartmatic have filed in the wake of the 2020 election, after the allegations linking their voting machines to fraud gained widespread traction on the right. Dominion is also suing Powell and Giuliani directly, along with MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell; right-wing networks One America News and Newsmax and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, and Smartmatic is suing all of the same defendants except for Byrne. Dominion is also separately suing Fox Corporation in addition to the Fox News lawsuit, seeking to hold Fox executives including Murdoch and his son Lachlan liable for the fraud claims after they tried to evade responsibility in the Fox News suit. None of the defamation lawsuits have yet been resolved in court, but Dominion and Smartmatic’s cases have so far kept moving forward as courts have largely rejected motions to dismiss the litigation. The Fox News case may be the first to reach a conclusion, as the April trial date is sooner than other cases are expected to be heard.
Further Reading
Murdoch Deposed: Here’s What Fox Is Accused Of Lying About In Defamation Lawsuit Over 2020 Election (Forbes)
Court Lets Lawsuit Against Fox News Move Forward—Here’s Where Dominion And Smartmatic’s Defamation Suits Stand Now (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/02/17/mind-blowingly-nuts-fox-news-hosts-and-execs-repeatedly-denounced-2020-election-fraud-off-air-here-are-their-most-scathing-comments/