‘Complete Crazy’: Fox News Anchors Didn’t Believe Allegations of 2020 Election Fraud

WILMINGTON, Delaware. Fox News anchors are seriously concerned about allegations of vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election by guests who were allies of former President Donald Trump, according to court documents in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.

“Sidney Powell is lying” about having evidence of election fraud, Tucker Carlson told the producer about the lawyer on Nov. 16, 2020, according to an exhibit excerpt that remains sealed.

The internal message was included in a redacted brief judgment filed on Thursday by attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems.

Carlson also referred to Powell in the text as “an unguided rocket” and “fucking dangerous”. Meanwhile, fellow host Laura Ingram told Carlson that Powell was “a total nut. Nobody will work with her. Same with Rudy,” referring to former New York City mayor and Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani.

Sean Hannity, meanwhile, said in deposition “in this whole story that Sidney was pushing, I didn’t believe her for a second,” according to Dominion’s statement.

Denver-based Dominion, which sells e-voting hardware and software, is suing Fox News and Fox parent Corporation FOX.
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Dominion said some Fox News employees intentionally spread false claims that Dominion changed votes in the 2020 election and that Fox provided a platform for guests to make false and slanderous statements.

Lawyers for the cable news giant said in a counterclaim that was released Thursday that the lawsuit is an attack on the First Amendment. They said Dominion has come up with “groundbreaking defamation theories” and is looking for a “staggering” damage figure aimed at making headlines, chilling protected information and enriching Dominion’s private shareholder, Staple Street Capital Partners.

“The Dominion has filed this lawsuit to punish FNN for reporting one of the biggest news stories of the day — allegations by the current President of the United States and his deputies that the 2020 election was affected by fraud,” the counterclaim says. “The very fact of these accusations deserves press coverage.”

Fox’s lawyers also said in their own summary opinion that Carlson repeatedly questioned Powell’s claims in his broadcasts. “When we kept pushing, she got angry and told us to stop messing with her,” Carlson told viewers on November 19, 2020.

Attorneys for Fox say that in December 2020, Dominion’s own public relations firm expressed skepticism about whether the network’s coverage was libelous. They also point to an email dated October 30, 2020, just a few days before the election, in which Dominion’s director of strategy and product security complained that the company’s products were “just riddled with bugs.”

In their countersuit, Fox’s lawyers wrote that when the voting technology companies denied the accusations made by Trump and his surrogates, Fox News aired those denials while some Fox News anchors offered protected comments about Trump’s claims.

Fox’s counterclaim is based on the New York law against SLAAP. Such laws are designed to protect people trying to exercise their First Amendment rights from intimidation by “strategic anti-public participation lawsuits” or SLAPPs.

“According to Dominion, FNN was under an obligation not to truthfully report the president’s allegations, but to cover them up or declare them false,” Fox’s lawyers wrote. “The Dominion is fundamentally wrong. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press would be illusory if the winning side in a public dispute could sue the press for giving the losing side a forum.”

Attorneys for Fox warn that threatening the company with a $1.6 billion judgment will cause other media outlets to think twice about what they’re reporting. They also say that documents presented in the lawsuit show that Dominion suffered no economic damage and does not indicate that it lost customers as a result of Fox’s coverage of the election.

Supreme Court Justice Eric Davis is due to preside over the trial, which begins in mid-April, but a summary judgment by either side will eliminate the need for a five-week jury trial.

In its 192-page report, Dominion stated that the judge should rule in its favor because “no reasonable jury could decide in Fox’s favor on every element of Dominion’s defamation suit.” Dominion’s lawyers also argue that no reasonable juror could find arguments in favor of Fox’s “neutral reporting” and “fair reporting”.

“Recounts and checks by U.S. election officials have repeatedly confirmed election results, including, in particular, that Dominion machines accurately counted votes,” Dominion said in a statement. “This evidence alone is more than enough to sum up the falsehood of the allegations that the Dominion rigged the election and its software manipulated the vote count.”

Attorneys for Fox News argue that the network’s coverage and comments are not defamatory.

“Even as an argument to suggest that the Dominion may point to any statement that may constitute defamation warranting prosecution, this court must grant the motion for summary judgment for the independent reason that the Dominion there is no clear and conclusive evidence that the relevant individuals at Fox News made or published any statement with actual malicious intent,” the attorneys wrote.

Davis ruled last month that for the purposes of libel suits, he would treat Dominion as a public figure. This means that the Dominion must prove, with a wealth of evidence, that Fox’s defendants acted with malice or irresponsible disregard for the truth.

Fox Corp. Attorneys joined the memo filed by Fox News and also stated that the parent company has an independent right to a summary judgment because Dominion did not provide any evidence necessary to hold it liable.

Fox Corp. and News Corp., the parent company of MarketWatch, share common ownership.

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