Summary
Dominion v. Fox News is a civil case in Delaware in which Dominion allege that the defendant, Fox News, published knowingly false and defamatory statements about Dominion’s technology and security.(Superior Court of Delaware) It is one of the the largest defamation cases in U.S. history.(PressGazette, Maher)
Dominion states that Fox News did the following to accomplish this:(Superior Court of Delaware p. 3)
- Provided a platform that knowingly hosted false and defamatory statements for viewers and guests.
- Fox News and their hosts “affirmed, endorsed, repeated, and agreed” with those statements made by their guests.
- Fox News republished these statements as fact on air, Fox websites, social media accounts, and other digital platforms and services.
Joe Dorrego’s statements
Joe Dorrego was at the time of the suit and currently serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of FOX News Media.(Fox News) He made statements in a hearing for the case establishing that not only it is wrong to knowingly disseminated false information, but also that they would not do so if there was no evidence for the claims being made.(Document Cloud, pp. 3-5)
Tucker Carlson’s statements
Tucker Carlson knew that they were promoting “bullshit,” through various e-mails and text messages.(ABC News) (Scribd)
Quote
“I don’t think there is evidence of voter fraud that swung the election,” producer Alex Pfeiffer texted to Carlson, per the lawsuit. “The software s—t is absurd,” Carlson allegedly responded.(ABC News) (Scribd)
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You keep telling our viewers that millions of votes were changed by the software. I hope you will prove that very soon. You’ve convinced them that Trump will win. If you don’t have conclusive evidence of fraud at that scale, it’s a cruel and reckless thing to keep saying.(Document Cloud, p. 13)
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Circumstantial wont work with this story. If there’s no one inside the company willing to talk, or internal Dominion documents or copies of the software showing that they did it, this seems shockingly reckless to me. And as you know there isn’t.(Document Cloud, p. 14)
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It sucked. Lou was reckless. But I think this will give energy to CNN and other forces seeking to kill us. So we should be as aggressive and tough as we can be.(Document Cloud, p. 15)
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Yep. The software shit is absurd. This is a way to dismiss it. Half our viewers have seen the Maria clip.(Document Cloud, p. 89)
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It was awesome. Sidney Powell is lying. Fucking bitch.(Document Cloud, p. 90)
Rupert Murdoch’s statements
Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch said under oath that, “The election was not stolen.”(AP News, Bauder, Peltz) (YouTube, CBS News)
Despite Rupert Murdoch claiming that he had “no official role at Fox News,” Fox News disclosed to Dominion’s attornys that Murdoch was a “executive chair” at Fox News.(PBS News, Chase, AP News) (Fortune, Chase, AP News)
Murdoch would send a private e-mail on January 20th, 2021:
Quote
The more I think about McConnell’s remarks or complaint the more I agree.
Trump insisting on the election being stolen and convincing 25% of Americans was a huge disservice to the country. Pretty much a crime. Inevitable it blew up Jan 6th
Best we don’t mention his name unless essential and certainly don’t support him.
We have to respect people of principle and if it comes to the Senate don’t take sides.I know he is being over demonized, but he brought it on himself.(Document Cloud, p. 265)
Withholding evidence
During the course of the case, the judge presiding over the case was frustrated with learning that Fox News was only turning over some of the recordings of conversations held that could impact the case.(Fortune, Chase, AP News)
Settlement out of court
Fox News decided to pay Dominion $787,000,000 over the election claims made by them, which is one-quarter of the $2.96 billion in revenue the company reported before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization,(AP News, Bauder, et al.) despite their claim that Dominion Voting was incorrect initially.(Reuters, Queen)