Fox News has had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week. First, two of their most prominent “news” show hosts were proven to have lied to their viewers about who was responsible for the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building and how serious that attack was. On Thursday, a Delaware superior court judge dismissed their attempt to shut down a four billion dollar lawsuit against them for another set of lies their hosts have told.
A judge in Delaware is allowing a defamation lawsuit against Fox News over 2020 election coverage to move forward https://t.co/ZMpCY0yTcN
— CNN (@CNN) December 17, 2021
The twice-impeached ex-president who lost the popular vote twice, Donald Trump, and Fox News have a shared strategy: always identify an enemy. After the 2020 elections, Trump and Fox News ranted about the “election fraud” that cheated Trump out of a presidential win, and one of the enemies they chose to attack, repeatedly, was Dominion Voting Systems, a company that makes vote tabulating machines. Trump and a number of Fox News personalities insisted the machines had been tampered with the change Trump votes to Biden votes.
As a result, Dominion’s business was significantly impacted, prompting the lawsuit. Fox News tried to shut it down, crying about free speech, but the superior court judge didn’t buy it. According to CNN Business:
‘Judge Eric Davis of the Delaware Superior Court declined to dismiss Dominion Voting System’s lawsuit against Fox News in a significant ruling Thursday. The ruling will now allow Dominion to attempt to unearth extensive communications within Fox News as they gather evidence for the case, and the company may be able to interview the network’s top names under oath.’
Just in: A judge in Delaware has denied Fox News' motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems.
Dominion's case against Fox can now–like its cases against Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell & Rudy Giuliani– continue into the discovery phase. pic.twitter.com/lEkL7bFi6q— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) December 16, 2021
Although Dominion proved to Fox News that their claims were false, the network persisted in defaming the voting machine company, insisting they had ties to shady actors who commonly use the company to rig elections, including a long-dead Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Clinton Foundation, and Antifa, all of whom were “enemies” identified previously by Trump or the Republican Party.
Judge Davis wrote in his decision that:
‘Nevertheless, Fox and its news personnel continued to report Dominion purported connection to the election fraud claims without also reporting on Dominion’s emails … Given that Fox apparently refused to report contrary evidence, including evidence from the Department of Justice, the Complaint’s allegations support the reasonable inference that Fox intended to keep Dominion’s side of the story out of the narrative.’
BREAKING: It's a bitch to have to tell the truth.
The judge presiding over Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News has denied its motion to dismiss. #WhatTheFox
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) December 16, 2021
The lawsuit addresses coverage by Fox News hosts and the guests they chose to bring to their shows, including Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell, one of whom has already seen their law license suspended and another who faces the same fate.
‘The lawsuit alleges Fox News personalitiesincluding Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity and their on-air guests Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell spread lies about fraud in the 2020 election that hurt Dominion’s business. It is one of several lawsuits Dominion has brought related to right-wing claims after the election, and is a major win for the company.’
New: Dominion and Smartmatic want to see Rupert Murdoch's emails.
This is all about showing "actual malice" — proving that Fox either knew it was amplifying bogus claims, or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
The latest from me and @hcoster:https://t.co/jADak6WeKO
— Jan Wolfe (@JanNWolfe) December 15, 2021