Trump rages at Rupert Murdoch over Dominion lawsuit deposition

Donald Trump raged Tuesday morning at Rupert Murdoch for admitting in a statement that Fox “endorsed” voter fraud enshrines “lies.”

The former president accused the billionaire media mogul of “throwing his anchors under the table” over his comments in sworn testimony as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit.

Commenting on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Murdoch is “killing his cause” and “infuriating his viewers,” who are “going to leave in droves again.”

The 2024 Republican presidential nominee also insisted there is “massive evidence” of voter fraud in the 2020 election, claiming that Fox News is “afraid and afraid” to talk about it.

Fox News wants to silence its hosts and reporters, which is why so many of their viewers fled. The election was that of a third world country! Trump added.

His comments were sparked by the publication of Fox Corporation chairman Murdoch’s affidavits last month, which were released Monday evening.

Murdoch denied that Fox as a network was endorsing fraud claims, but admitted that a collection of its hosts shared the “stolen election lies,” according to a transcript of the billionaire’s sworn testimony from last month.

“They supported it,” Murdoch said of hosts Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo. He said former host Dobbs did “a lot” and Hannity did “a little.”

“I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it afterwards,” added Murdoch.

Dominion alleged that Fox aired comments from Trump-affiliated attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani defaming the polling place.

A Fox News spokeswoman called Dominion’s argument in the filing “an extreme, unsupported take on defamation law that would deter journalists from doing basic reporting.”

The rep also claimed that the company is “picking sound bites, omitting key context and mischaracterizing the record.”

In his statement, Murdoch also said hosts who knew they were “endorsing” lies should be “reprimanded, perhaps dismissed.”

He wouldn’t say host Tucker Carlson condoned election fraud, though he said it was “wrong” of Carlson to allow My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell to make false allegations against Dominion on Jan. 26, 2021 without pushing them back.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokeswoman for Fox said, “Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will make headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as evidenced by the fact that they are now being forced to file their imaginative damages claim.” with more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked his implausible claims.

“Their summary verdict took an extreme, unsupported position on the libel law that would deter journalists from doing basic reporting and their attempts to publicly defame FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting president of the United States, must be recognized for what it is: a flagrant violation of the First Amendment.”

They also pointed to an example of a Dominion’s attorneys saying it would be “unthinkable that a competent plaintiff’s attorney would advise a client to sue CBS, FOX or CNN for live broadcast of the defamatory remarks of, let we say, President Trump.”

The former president accused the billionaire media mogul of “throwing his anchors under the table” over his comments in sworn testimony as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit

Commenting on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Murdoch is “killing his cause” and “enrages his viewers,” who are “going to leave in droves again”

Murdoch denied that Fox as a network was endorsing fraud claims, but admitted that a collection of its hosts shared the “stolen election lies,” according to a transcript of the billionaire’s sworn testimony from last month. Trump and Murdoch pictured together in New York in 2017

In the filing released Monday, they also denied that Murdoch was directly involved in the coverage of the election fraud claims.

Murdoch’s comments came as court documents revealed earlier this month that Fox News hosts cast doubt on the claims of voter fraud they brought to viewers.

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

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 lunatic.” Nobody wants to work with her. Ditto with Rudy,” referring to former New York mayor and Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani.

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

Denver-based Dominion, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing both Fox News and its parent company Fox Corporation.

Dominion said some Fox News employees deliberately amplified false claims that Dominion had switched its vote in the 2020 election and that Fox provided a platform for guests to make false and defamatory statements.

Trump, Rupert’s second wife Anna and the Australian media mogul stand together at a party in 1993

“They endorsed,” Murdoch said of hosts Jeanine Pirro, above, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo

Fox is airing a segment to counter previous comments from its conservative hosts and pro-Trump guests that voting software company Smartmatic was involved in election fraud

The documents unsealed today and on Feb. 17 show that top executives and on-air hosts found Trump’s team’s claims dubious at the time, but still aired them without a fact-check.

One of several Dominion conspiracies that were spread on the network was that a secret algorithm in its machines allowed votes to be switched from one candidate to another and that the Venezuelan company was created to replace the longtime leader of that country, Hugo Chávez, to arrange elections.

Dominion’s latest filing also shows how former Chairman Paul Ryan, now on the board of Fox Corp., said in his statement that he told Murdoch and his son and Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch, “Fox News shouldn’t have conspiracy theories.” to spread.’

Asked by Dominion attorney Justin Nelson if the elder Murdoch, as the company’s chairman, could have told hosts to keep Powell and Giuliani off the air, he said, “I could have, but I didn’t.”

Fox lawyers have pointed to times when their hosts are pushing back Powell and Giuliani’s fraud claims.

Murdoch also admitted that he doubted the claims from the start.

“I mean, we thought everything was on the rise,” he said in his statement. “I think that showed when we announced Arizona,” referring to when Fox was the first network to call the Arizona presidential race in favor of Joe Biden.

But Murdoch admitted he had a “long talk” with his son Lachlan and Fox News executive Suzanne Scott about “the direction Fox should take” after some longtime viewers turned away after the Arizona call.

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

Supreme Court Justice Eric Davis is expected to preside over a trial in mid-April, but a summary judgment on both sides would obviate the need for a jury trial that could stretch over five weeks.