Murdoch says some Fox hosts ‘supported’ fake election claims

Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch has admitted that some Fox News commentators support false claims by former President Donald Trump and his supporters that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He did not intervene to stop them from spreading the allegations, according to excerpts of a deposit that was unsealed Monday.

This allegation and the company’s response are at the heart of Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the cable news giant.

Recently unsealed documents show whether Murdoch knows that some of the network’s commentators (Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity) sometimes endorse false election claims. Includes excerpts from depositions asked if. Murdoch replied, “Yes. They supported.”

Murdoch’s deposition is the latest filing in a defamation lawsuit, topping as its ratings plummeted after the network called Arizona for Joe Biden, angering Trump and his supporters. He expressed concern about how the rating network handled Trump’s allegations.

Previous filings indicated a disconnect between the story of the stolen election the network was airing in primetime and allegations about the allegations raised by the star behind the scenes.2020 In one text from Nov. 16, Fox News host Tucker Carlson referred to one of Trump’s attorneys as saying, “Sydney Powell is lying.” ‘ said.

The Dominion case is the latest example of how those spreading false information about the 2020 election knew there was no evidence to back it up. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack is now dissolved, and many of Trump’s top advisers have repeatedly warned that the allegations he makes about fraud are false. However, the president still insisted.

According to Dominion court filings, Murdoch urged Dobbs to be fired for being “extremist” in September 2020, weeks before the election. Murdoch also said he thought it was “really bad” for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to advise Trump.

Murdoch was asked if he could have requested that Powell and Giuliani not be aired. But I didn’t,” he replied.

Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing both Fox News Network and parent company Fox Corp. for defamation. Dominion deliberately amplified false allegations by Trump supporters that the Dominion machine changed votes in the 2020 election, with some Fox News employees deliberately amplifying false allegations by Trump supporters that the Dominion machine changed votes in the 2020 election, and Fox reported that guests were falsely and defamatory about the company. It claims to have provided a platform for people to make meaningful statements.

Dominion’s lawyers said executives in the Fox News and Fox Corporation “chain of command” knew the network was broadcasting “a known lie and had the power to stop it, but they did so.” It was a mistake and both FC and FNN are responsible. ”

Lawyers for Fox Corp. point out in the documents that Murdoch testified that he never spoke with the accused Fox News host about Dominion or voter fraud. They said Dominion did not provide “evidence support” for the allegations that senior Fox officials had any role in the preparation or publication of the statement in question.

Dominion’s claim that the company should be held liable is “defamatory” because they may have had the power to prevent Murdoch from intervening and airing the challenged statement. There is no basis in law and it removes the distinction between a company’s parent company and its subsidiaries, and we support it with evidence.”

A lawyer for Fox said the “handful of selective quotes” cited by Dominion had nothing to do with the statements Dominion contested as defamation. It’s a challenging statement,” they wrote. “The answer, every time, for all witnesses, was no.”

Meanwhile, a Fox News attorney said that when voting technology companies denied allegations by Trump and his representatives, Fox News aired those denials, but some Fox News hosts said Trump’s allegations provided a commentary on the protected opinion about