Fox News hosts and executives believed that the allegations of Election fraud being spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies during the 2020 presidential election were false, according to a court filing by Dominion Voting Systems. The voting company has filed a billion-dollar defamation suit against Fox News for making on-air claims about the fraud allegations that were deemed false. The court filing included significant evidence that had previously not been made public in the case. Host Tucker Carlson called the claims “shockingly reckless”, while host Sean Hannity testified that he “did not believe for one second” that the allegations were true.
Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch called the fraud allegations “really crazy stuff” and “damaging”, and said that far-right attorney Rudy Giuliani should be taken “with a large grain of salt”. Fox host Lou Dobbs agreed under oath that it was “false” to say that Sidney Powell had revealed evidence of voter fraud on his show. Dominion is asking Fox to pay $1.6 billion in damages if the court rules in its favour. Fox News has filed a motion for summary judgment that argues that the airing of the Dominion fraud claims was justified because they were newsworthy.
Dominion is also suing Powell and Giuliani directly, along with other figures and organisations on the right. Smartmatic, another voting company, is engaged in similar legal action. None of the defamation cases have been resolved in court. However, Dominion and Smartmatic’s cases have advanced past initial motions to dismiss. The Fox News case may be the first to reach a conclusion, as the court has scheduled a trial for April 2022.
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. The voting company has filed a billion-dollar defamation suit against Fox News for making on-air claims about the fraud allegations that were deemed false.
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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 that “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.”
Dominion alleges that 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”. Dominion claims that no Fox witness has testified there’s any evidence of voter fraud involving Dominion machines. 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.
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 Bret Baier said on November 5, “There is NO evidence of fraud. None.”
Dominion alleges that Fox News aired the fraud claims despite privately believing they were false. Fox News maintains that the airing of the Dominion fraud claims was justified because they were newsworthy. Dominion is asking Fox to pay $1.6 billion in damages if the court rules in its favor. The Fox News trial is scheduled to take place in April 2022.
Original Story at www.forbes.com – 2023-02-17 08:00:00
