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The $787.5m settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems spared executives and on-air talent from taking the stand in a defamation lawsuit that centered on the network airing false claims of a stolen election in the weeks after Donald Trumpβs 2020 loss.
The lawsuit still revealed plenty of what Fox personalities had been saying about the bogus election claims, including Tucker Carlson, the networkβs top-rated host who was let go Monday. His unexplained departure has turned a spotlight on what he said in depositions, emails and text messages among the thousands of pages Dominion released in the leadup to jury selection in the case.
Carlsonβs messages lambasted the news division and management, revealed how he felt about Donald Trump and demonstrated his skepticism of the election lies β so much so that Fox attorneys and company founder Rupert Murdoch held him up as part of their defense of the company. The judge who oversaw the case ruled that it was βCRYSTAL clearβ none of the election claims related to Dominion was true.
Election lies
βSidney Powell is lying,β Carlson told a Fox News producer in a 16 November 2020, exchange before using expletives to describe Powell, an attorney representing Trump.
βYou keep telling our viewers that millions of votes were changed by the software. I hope you will prove that very soon,β Carlson wrote to Powell a day later. βYouβve convinced them that Trump will win. If you donβt have conclusive evidence of fraud at that scale, itβs a cruel and reckless thing to keep saying.β There was no indication that Powell replied.
Fox attorneys noted that Carlson repeatedly questioned Powellβs claims in his broadcasts: βWhen we kept pressing, she got angry and told us to stop contacting her,β Carlson told viewers on 19 November 2020.
Carlson told his audience that he had taken Powell seriously, but that she had never provided any evidence or demonstrated that the software Dominion used siphoned votes from Trump to Biden.
Foxβs 2020 election coverage
Fox viewers were outraged when the network called Arizona for Joe Biden on election night, a race call that was accurate. Fox executives and hosts began to worry about ratings as many of those viewers fled to other conservative outlets.
βWe worked really hard to build what we have. Those [expletive] are destroying our credibility. It enrages me,β Carlson said in a 6 November 2020, exchange with an unidentified person.
On 8 November, after Biden was declared the winner, Carlson texted a couple of other employees: βDo the executives understand how much trust and credibility weβve lost with our audience? Weβre playing with fire, for real.β
Later in the chain, as others bring up Newsmax as an emerging competitor, Carlson said, βWith Trump behind it, an alternative like Newsmax could be devastating to us.β
Donald Trump
In a text exchange with an unknown person on 4 January 2021, Carlson expressed anger toward Trump. He said that βwe are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nightsβ and that βI truly canβt wait.β
Carlson said he had no doubt there was fraud in the 2020 election, but said Trump and his lawyers had so discredited their case β and media figures like himself β βthat itβs infuriating. Absolutely enrages me.β
Addressing Trumpβs four years as president, Carlson said: βWeβre all pretending weβve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster itβs been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isnβt an upside to Trump.β
In texts early on the morning of 7 January 2021, a day after the violent assault on the US Capitol, Carlson and his longtime producer, Alex Pfeiffer, bemoaned how the rioters had believed Trumpβs election lies.
βThey take the president literally,β Pfeiffer said. βHe is to blame for everything that happened today.β
βThe problem is a little deeper than that Iβd say,β Carlson replied.
Later, Carlson writes of Trump: βHeβs a demonic force, a destroyer. But heβs not going to destroy us. Iβve been thinking about this every day for four years.β
Fox news department
Some of the most heated vitriol was reserved for colleagues in the news division and included conversations with fellow on-air personalities Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity.
On 13 November, the week after the 2020 election, Ingraham, Carlson and Hannity got into a text message exchange in which they lambasted the news division. It began with Ingraham pointing out a tweet by correspondent Bryan Llenas, saying he had seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
Carlson replied that Llenas had contacted him to apologize, then added βwhen has he ever βreportedβ on anythingβ.
Ingraham then names another colleague who indicated there was no fraud, with Hannity responding: βGuys Iβve been telling them for 4 years. News depart that breaks no news ever.β In a subsequent Twitter message seconds later, Hannity says, βThey hate hate hate all three of us.β
Ingraham responds she doesnβt βwant to be liked by themβ and Carlson chimes in, βTheyβre pathetic.β The conversation continues with Hannity bemoaning the damage that has been done to the brand: βIn one week and one debate they destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.β
Another text conversation by the trio three days later had Ingraham telling her colleagues that her anger at the news channel was βpronouncedβ, followed by an βlolβ. In response, Carlson attacked two Fox anchors: βIt should be. We devote our lives to building an audience and they let Chris Wallace and Leland [expletive] Vittert wreck it. Too much.β Wallace and Vittert have since left the network.
The three hosts then started musing about a path forward after Ingraham says they have βenormous powerβ and that they should think about how, together, they can force a change. Carlsonβs response: βFor sure. The first thing we need to do exactly what we want to do. Thatβs the key. Leland Vittert seems to have the authority to do whatever he wants. We should too.β
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )