Murdoch Admits Fox News Hosts Pushed False Election Fraud Claims

Topline

Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch acknowledged in a deposition that several Fox News anchors “endorsed” former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, as the Murdoch-led Fox Corporation looks to fend off a $1.6 billion lawsuit from a voting machine company that argues the false claims amounted to defamation.

Rupert Murdoch introduces then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the Herman Kahn Award Gala on … [+] October 30, 2019, in New York City. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Key Facts

Murdoch said in the deposition—which took place last month, but snippets of which became public in a Delaware court filing by Dominion Voting Systems Monday—that he believes Fox executives should have taken a bigger role in toning down the claims frequently presented on primetime Fox News programs following the 2020 election, saying: “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight.”

Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News over the claims, stating the actions of Fox News anchors and executives at the Fox Corporation—where Murdoch serves as chairman—amounted to “actual malice” that harmed the company, which endured baseless allegations that its voting machines were used to rig the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favor.

Fox lawyers have pushed back on the assertion, arguing anchors like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson were doing their jobs as journalists by investigating the election fraud claims, which was their right under the First Amendment.

The Fox chairman argued in his deposition that the company didn’t endorse stolen election claims, but “some of our commentators were endorsing it,” listing hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, former host Lou Dobbs and Hannity “a bit.”

Murdoch also told a Dominion attorney he had the power to keep election deniers—like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell—off Fox News, but chose not to.

At one point, Murdoch explained the decision to let Lindell run ads for his company, MyPillow, as a strictly financial—rather than political—move, saying: “It is not red or blue, it is green,” according to Monday’s court filing.

Fox News in a statement blasted Dominion for what it calls an “extreme” view of making “the press is liable for reporting newsworthy allegations made by the sitting President of the United States even if the press makes clear that the allegations are unproven.”

Crucial Quote

“Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny,” Fox News said.

Key Background

Dominion’s filing argues Fox News anchors and executives knowingly pushed claims they knew were false to boost ratings after former President Donald Trump lambasted the conservative network for its election night coverage, specifically Fox’s decision to call Arizona for President Joe Biden before other major media outlets. It cites numerous emails to back up its claims, including several exchanges between Murdoch and former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), who urged him to clamp down on the election fraud claims. Murdoch in one email to Ryan–who is a Fox Corporation board member–shortly after the January 6 storming of the Capitol described the rioting as a “Wake-up call for Hannity, who has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers.” Fox News has been the most-watched cable news network for more than 20 years.

Surprising Fact

A separate Dominion court filing earlier this month included text messages from Hannity, Ingraham and Carlson and other anchors apparently acknowledging they knew the election fraud claims were not true. “No serious lawyer could believe what they were saying,” Ingraham said of Giuliani and Powell’s appearances, calling Giuliani “such an idiot” and Powell a “complete nut.”

What To Watch For

A five-week defamation trial in the Dominion case is scheduled to start on April 17, while Fox News is also fighting against a defamation suit from voting machine company Smartmatic. Dominion and Smartmatic have also taken legal action against hard-right networks like Newsmax and One America News Network, along with Trump’s former legal advisors, among others. Both sides have asked the court to accept separate motions to resolve the case via pre-trial summary judgment,

Forbes Valuation

We estimate Murdoch, 91, and his family to be worth $17.8 billion through their media empire, which controls Fox broadcasting products, the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and many other brands.

Tangent

Trump’s attacks on Fox News now focus on what he believes is the network propping up Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) against him in a potential 2024 Republican primary battle. Trump claimed Monday on his Truth Social platform that Fox is “promoting Ron [DeSantis] so hard and so much there’s not much time for Real News.”