Former Fox News reporter was fired over opposition to the network’s Jan. 6 coverage, lawsuit alleges

A former Fox News reporter who now works for U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) has filed a lawsuit against the network, alleging that it wrongfully terminated his job over his opposition to the company’s coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Filed in Washington Superior Court in September, the lawsuit accuses Fox News Network of wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, and violation of the District of Columbia’s Human Rights Act in connection with Jason Donner’s firing in fall 2022. Donner spent more than a decade at the network, including as a Capitol Hill reporter and producer. He is now a senior adviser for Fitzpatrick, the congressman who represents parts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties

Donner held views that ran counter to those of more prominent Fox News on-air personalities, but they did not impact his work at the network for much of his career, according to the lawsuit. But those views became an issue after the 2020 election, when then-President Donald Trump began falsely claiming that the presidential election was stolen amid nationwide voter fraud, leading to the Jan. 6 insurrection, and Donner spoke out in opposition.

A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Donner’s lawyers declined further comment.

Donner, the lawsuit says, was working in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and overhead Fox News reporting calling the situation “peaceful.” He then called the Fox News control room, and told them that he didn’t want to hear “any of this … on our air ever again because you’re gonna get us all killed.”

Donner said in the suit that he would go on to make complaints to his superiors about the network’s coverage of the 2020 election and Capitol insurrection. For example, in a May 2022 written complaint filed with the network’s human resources department, as well as his direct supervisor, NuNu Japaridze, Donner wrote that the network’s coverage had created a “hostile work environment.”

“Fox News has not supported its journalists since the January 6th attack on the Capitol,” Donner wrote in his complaint. “I barely watch our programming or read our website anymore because it’s hard to stomach these untruths being aired and written.”

Sometime that spring, the lawsuit alleges, Japaridze accused Donner of creating a “toxic environment,” and told him that he needed “more self-awareness when talking during Zoom meetings.”

“It became evident to Donner he was now being targeted for speaking out against the false reporting on the election and the January 6th insurrection, and for his political affiliation,” the lawsuit says. “Fox News management was pushing a far-right-wing agenda in the news division, and Donner would not comply with their demands to inaccurately report on the election and former President Trump.”

The lawsuit describes Donner, who began working for Fitzpatrick’s office in January, according to his LinkedIn page, as “traditionally a Republican.” But he “affiliated with the Democratic party in the 2017 and 2020 elections.”

Donner was specifically concerned with Patriot Purge, a Tucker Carlson documentary aired by the network that made inaccurate claims about Jan. 6. The lawsuit states that Donner met with Fox News’ HR department in August 2022, during which he “complained about the false reporting by Tucker Carlson” on the network.

About a month later, Donner became sick after getting a COVID-19 vaccination, and called out of work. His supervisor later called him and “challenged Donner’s work ethic,” the lawsuit alleges.

A day after that call, Donner met with Bryan Boughton, the D.C. bureau chief, who fired him on the grounds that he was “late for work and did not show up for work (presumably referring to … when Donner called in sick),” the lawsuit alleges.

According to the filing, “Donner asked for examples, and Boughton said, ‘we don’t need any.’”

The reason Donner received for his firing was a pretext, the lawsuit alleges. The suit contends his job was actually terminated over his “political views and affiliation, his refusal to report false information regarding the 2020 election and January 6th, and for his engaging in protected activity.”

With Donner’s job being terminated, as well as firings of other employees, Fox News sought to “purge the news division” of staff members who would not “report information that [would] appease the Trump supporters and former President Trump,” the lawsuit says.

The Daily Beast first reported on the lawsuit Monday, as lawyers for Fox News filed to move the case to federal court. Donner is seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages, as well as injunctions against the network.