Fox News executives and anchors, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, have disbelieved Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud after the 2020 presidential election, but the network has nonetheless bolstered conspiracy theories amid concerns about the loss of viewers to Newsmax, Newsmax said. Dominion Voting Systems documents released Thursday.
In its request for an injunction in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox, with a redacted version released Thursday (read here), Dominion makes extensive use of text messages and emails from Fox personalities and employees to claimed that the network was good, was aware that claims made by guests such as Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani were false.
“Really crazy stuff,” Rupert Murdoch wrote about Giuliani in a Nov. 19 text, according to the filing.
Dominion’s lawsuit focuses on allegations aired by Powell, Giuliani and others, and then made by Fox News figures such as Lou Dobbs, that it was involved in rigging the results of the 2020 election. Dominion claims that many at the network knew the allegations were false, but executives and hosts feared losing Trump-supporting viewers if Fox News called them baseless. In one case, Carlson called for the firing of a reporter, Jacqui Heinrich, for tweeting a fact-check about allegations of voter fraud.
In the filing, Dominion’s lawyers wrote: “Fox knew the truth. It knew the allegations against Dominion were ‘bizarre’ and ‘crazy’ and ‘ridiculous’ and ‘insane.'” Yet it has the power and influence of its platform used to promote this false narrative. Vos knew better.”
With its own summary judgment motion (read it here and here ), which was also released, Fox said in a statement that Dominion takes an “extreme and unsupported view of defamation law and relies on a statement of fact as in the docket presented has no basis.” Fox also said Dominion “removed selected quotes out of key context” and focused on facts irrelevant to the defamation law.
“There will be much noise and confusion from Dominion and its opportunistic private equity owners, but the heart of this matter remains freedom of the press and freedom of speech, the fundamental rights granted and protected by the Constitution. New York Times v. SullivanFox said in a statement.
In their filing, Fox’s lawyers argue that Dominion’s lawsuit is an “attack on the First Amendment.” They said the network was reporting on something “as newsworthy as it gets”: a sitting president’s attempt to challenge the election results.
“As the story unfolded and Dominion denied many of the allegations, Fox News also reported on these denials, including reporting on Dominion’s position, giving Dominion an opportunity to take its side and to include unrelated third-party opinions on the allegations win and.” differ from election results, sometimes in debatable form,” Fox’s lawyers wrote.
Fox also filed an amended counterclaim on Thursday ( read it here ) disputing the damages. In the counterclaim, Fox lawyers wrote that Dominion investor Staple Street Capital bought a controlling interest in Dominion for a “small fraction” of the amount sought in the lawsuit. They wrote: “Even under the most optimistic projections, Staple Street has never estimated Dominion’s value as a company at nearly $1.6 billion.”
The trial will begin in Delaware Supreme Court in April, but the release of the motions will provide insight into both sides’ cases and findings. Murdoch, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and a number of personalities issued statements.
When he saw Giuliani and Powell at a post-election press conference on November 19, Murdoch told Scott, “I’m afraid that terrible things that hurt everybody.” Scott replied, “Yes, Sean and even Pirro would agree.” The latter was a reference to Jeanine Pirro, another Fox News anchor and staunch Trump defender.
“Rather than tell the truth, Fox continued to ‘harm everyone’ — not just by inviting these guys to its shows, but by supporting these lies,” Dominion’s lawyers wrote. “Fox deceived its audience.”
Dominion’s filing highlights messages sent between Fox News figures and executives concerned about losing audiences to Newsmax after the 2020 election. It was prompted by Fox News’ call to Joe Biden of Arizona on election night, which angered the Trump White House but gave early signs that the president was losing the election.
Instead, through a series of retweets, Trump promoted Newsmax or One America News Network, two of Fox’s much smaller rivals, with some personalities quick to embrace the president’s claims.
According to the Dominion file, in a Nov. 5 conversation with his producer Alex Pfeiffer, Carlson wrote, “We’ve worked really hard to build what we have. These f—ers are destroying our credibility. It makes me angry.” He said he spoke to Hannity and Ingraham and they were “extremely upset.” “By that point, we’re going to be hurt anyway.”
“It’s a tough needle to thread, but I really think many on ‘our side’ are now ruthless demagogues,” Pfeiffer wrote.
Carlson replied, “Of course they are.” We will not follow them.” Then he added, “What [Trump is] good at destroying things. In this he is the undisputed world champion. He can easily destroy us if we get it wrong.”
According to the filing, Fox News anchor Dana Perino described the allegations of voter fraud and election fraud as “total bullshit,” “insane” and “bullshit.” Anchor and chief political correspondent Bret Baier was also among those who questioned the fraud allegations, declaring privately on November 5, two days after the election: “There is NO evidence of fraud. NO.”
When Maria Bartiromo, another Fox host, posted allegations of a voice loss on social media, Baier alerted Bill Sammon, then senior vice president and editor-in-chief in Washington. “We have to prevent something like this… We have to check facts.
The next day, Murdoch told Scott: “It’s very difficult to make a mistake anywhere.” He added that if Trump is going to be “a bad loser, we need to see how Sean and especially and others don’t sound the same. According to the Dominion file, Scott forwarded this email to Meade Cooper, the executive in charge of primetime programming, including the Star Opinion moderators.
According to Dominion, Cooper testified that as of Nov. 6, “saying on TV that the election is being stolen” “wouldn’t be factual at this point.” On November 7, the day Fox News and other broadcasters called Biden the race, Cooper and director David Clark canceled Pirro’s show. “Her guests will all say the election was stolen, and if she backs down at all, it’s just a sign…” Another Fox producer, Justin Wells, said: “They took her out because she was acting crazy . Optika sucks. But she’s crazy.”
But the reaction from viewers “only got worse,” Dominion’s lawyers wrote. “Being creamed by CNN! I think our viewers don’t want to see that,” Murdoch wrote to Scott about the Nov. 7 phone call. Irena Briganti, the channel’s head of communications, wrote that night: “We viewers left for AZ this week.”
In the days that followed, some Fox anchors even feared that the fact-checking of the channel’s news page would turn off more viewers. When Heinrich tweeted a response to one of Trump’s claims about Dominion, pointing out that there was “no evidence” that votes were deleted or lost, Carlson and Hannity were outraged.
According to the Dominion file, Carlson wrote to Hannity in a group text thread: “Please get her fired. Seriously.. what the f—? I’m actually in shock… This needs to stop immediately like tonight. It hurts business measurably.” The share price has fallen. No kidding.”
Carlson added, “I just went crazy for Meade.”
Hannity said he “already sent it to Suzanne with a real one?”
Hannity then added, “I’m 3 Strikes. Wallace crap debate[.] Election night a disaster[.] Now this BS? NO. i don’t fly Did I mention Cavuto? Hannity referred to Chris Wallace, then at Fox, who moderated the first presidential debate that year, and host Neil Cavuto, who was more wary of spreading allegations of voter fraud.
According to the filing, Scott got the message and told Wallace and Briganti, “Sean sent me a text – he won’t respond but is not happy about it and doesn’t understand how it could come from someone on the news didn’t happen.” [Heinrich] has serious guts to do so, and when it’s picked up, viewers will be even more disgusted. Heinrich deleted the fact-checking tweet.
According to the filing, there were also concerns among Fox executives and hosts about Cavuto. The Fox News spokesperson interrupted a press conference by Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany when she made allegations of voter fraud.
“She accuses the other side of welcoming fraud and illegal voting. If she doesn’t have more details to back it up, I can’t show it to you properly,” Cavuto told viewers. According to the Dominion filing, the Fox Corp. brand team led by Raj Shah, Trump’s former deputy press secretary, warned the network’s top executives and parent company “of the ‘brand threat’ posed by Cavuto’s actions.”
Dominion said executives are sounding the alarm about a “Newsmax spike,” while Fox News Media president Jay Wallace wrote that its rival “really is an alternate universe to watch, but it can’t be ignored.” “I am trying to make everyone understand that we are in conflict,” he wrote. Hannity warned Carlson and Ingraham on Nov. 12, “In one week and one debate, they destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.” Carlson replied, “It’s vandalism.”
Dominion also cited Bartiromo’s Nov. 8 interview with Powell, in which she claimed the Dominion software had an algorithm to steal the election. But Bartiromo admitted that the source of Powell’s claim — a conspiracy email she received — was “bullshit.” But Bartiromo and Dobbs never reported the email’s existence, Dominion’s lawyers noted.
“Although the claims were ridiculous on their face, Bartiromo gave them credibility,” Dominion’s lawyers wrote.
According to a source, Dominion wants to try to get rid of the editors in a quick procedure.
Fox also said in a statement that Dominion declined to publicly disclose its response to its request for a restraining order. “The reasons for Dominion’s refusal will become clear when the public response is finally released on February 27,” the network said.
It is up to Judge Eric Davis to rule on both sides’ motions, which are typically filed by parties in court proceedings seeking a judicial victory rather than a trial.
Source: Deadline
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
