Fox hosts including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham doubted Trump’s false claims of election fraud, court filings show
What to know about Dominion's defamation court filing against Fox News, including text messages from Tucker Carlson and quotes from Sean Hannity and Rupert Murdoch.
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Newly released text messages and emails from top Fox News anchors and executives show them expressing disbelief in former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. But, a high-profile lawsuit alleges, the news network peddled the dialogue anyway.
According to court papers filed Thursday by Dominion Voting Systems — the voting software corporation that is suing Fox Corp. and its cable TV networks — private messages and testimonies show that Fox News personalities, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, doubted Trump’s repeated false statements about President Joe Biden’s win being fraudulent.
The disclosure of those messages and statements follow months of discovery and depositions related to the $1.6 billion lawsuit.
“Fox witness after witness has admitted under oath that they have not seen evidence proving Dominion stole the 2020 Presidential Election or that they do not believe Dominion did,” Dominion alleged in its court filing. “Not a single Fox witness has presented evidence that Dominion rigged the 2020 election because no evidence, documentary or otherwise, suggests it.”
Here are some of the major details from the court filing:
Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch called claims from Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, about voter fraud weeks after the election, “Really crazy” and “damaging” in a Nov. 19 email. Murdoch also said that Giuliani’s claims should be taken “with a large grain of salt.”
Fox News host Carlson said in text messages that claims from far-right attorney Sidney Powell about a rigged election were “insane,” “absurd,” and “shockingly reckless.” He added that Powell was “poison,” an “unguided missile,” “dangerous as hell,” and that she “is lying.”
Carlson also called Trump “a demonic force” and “a destroyer” after the Jan. 6 insurrection. In a message to Ingraham, Carlson said he had to make the Trump White House “disavow” Powell’s comments.
Fox News host Ingraham called Powell “a complete nut,” and said “ditto with Rudy [Giuliani].” She told Carlson that “no serious lawyer could believe what they were saying.”
Several other Fox News hosts, including Bret Baier and Lou Dobbs, as well as executives, echoed similar concerns, according to the court documents.
Fox officials say the quotes and messages used in the court filings have been taken out of context and are cherry-picked.
Fox Corp. and Fox News filed their own motions for summary judgment Thursday.
“There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights,” Fox said in a statement.
Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox is one of over a dozen defamation challenges filed after allegations that voting machines supported fraudulent results in the 2020 election. Dominion competitor Smartmatic also filed a suit against Fox. The suits say Fox, its networks, and anchors made false defamatory claims against the voting software.
Dominion and Fox News have both filed motions for summary judgment, asking the court to make a ruling without going to trial. If the motions fail, the case has been scheduled for trial in Delaware in April.