Rupert Murdoch admitted Fox News hosts 'endorsed' 'stolen election lies' during his deposition in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion voting
'They endorsed,' Murdoch said of hosts Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo. The deposition came in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion voting
By Morgan Phillips and Associated Press
Daily Mail
Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted that some of his Fox News hosts 'endorsed' false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump in his deposition for the $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems.
Murdoch denied that Fox as a network endorsed the claims, but admitted a collection of his hosts shared the 'stolen election lies', according to a transcript of the billionaire's sworn testimony from last month.
'They endorsed,' Murdoch said of hosts Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo. He said that former host Dobbs did 'a lot' and Hannity did 'a bit.'
Dominion alleged that Fox broadcast comments made by Trump-affiliated lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani that defamed the voting company.
A Fox News spokeswoman called Dominion's argument in the filing 'an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting.'
The representative also claimed the company is 'cherry-picking soundbites, omitting key context and mischaracterizing the record.'
In his deposition, Murdoch also said that hosts who knew they were promoting lies should be 'reprimanded, maybe got rid of.'
He would not say that host Tucker Carlson endorsed election fraud, though he said it was 'wrong' for Carlson to have My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell on January 26, 2021 to make false accusations against Dominion without pushing back on them.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, a Fox spokeswoman said: 'Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims.
'Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment.'
They also pointed to an example of a Dominion's lawyers saying it would be 'unthinkable that any competent plaintiff’s lawyer would advise a client to sue the likes of CBS, FOX, or CNN for live transmission of the defamatory remarks uttered by, let us say, President Trump.'
In the filing released Monday, they also denied Murdoch was directly involved in the coverage of the election fraud claims.
Murdoch's comments came as court documents revealed earlier this month showed Fox News hosts expressing doubts about the election fraud claims they were pushing to viewers.
'Sidney Powell is lying,' about having evidence of election fraud, Tucker Carlson told a producer about the attorney in a Nov. 16, 2020 message, according to an excerpt from an exhibit that remains under seal.
Carlson also referred to Powell in a text as an 'unguided missile,' and 'dangerous as hell.' Fellow host Laura Ingraham, meanwhile, told Carlson that Powell is 'a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy,' referring to former New York mayor and Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani.
Sean Hannity, meanwhile, said in a deposition 'that whole narrative that Sidney was pushing, I did not believe it for one second,' according to Dominion's filing.
Denver-based Dominion, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing both Fox News and parent company Fox Corporation.
Dominion said some Fox News employees deliberately amplified false claims that Dominion had changed votes in the 2020 election, and that Fox provided a platform for guests to make false and defamatory statements.
4 comments:
Don't believe everything you read. Old man Murdoch was a liberal from way back. I've broken bread with Jeanine Pirro more than once. She is a strong supporter of President Trump and a true conservative.
Trey, it's time for you to stop dreaming about Trump. He lost the election fair and square. Dozens of lawsuits to the contrary have failed. He made a complete fool of himself when he refused to accept the results.
No doubt there was election fraud, but not enough to change the results. There is fraud in every election, and it occurs on all sides, be it Democrats, Republicans or aliens from outta space.
Where do you get that Murdoch was a liberal? I've read reports about him for years and there was never anything to indicate that he was anything but a bedrock conservative. What he did in the deposition was to give himself a black eye by admitting that his Fox news hosts were a pack of liars.
So you broke breakfast with Pirro. That does not by any stretch of the imagination absolve her of passing on the stolen election lies of Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani while knowing they were lies.
Howie, My good friend. Don't believe everything you read or hear except this!
Happy Birthday!
Trey, thank you for the birthday wishes. At this age, an expression of sympathy would be in order.
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