Possible Criminal Consequences For Rupert Murdoch Promoted By Dem

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Fox is facing new scrutiny after the election technology company Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing the network for defamation, revealed Rupert Murdoch provided Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner with private information from the Biden camp ahead of the 2020 election, particularly about the now president’s ads.

A report from The Washington Post notes some of the substantial factors making that sort of reveal, facilitated by Rupert Murdoch, so serious. The Biden campaign actually spent large amounts on ads for Fox ahead of the 2020 election, including more than 100 ads airing during Fox & Friends — not all of which would’ve necessarily been designed to simply boost support for the Democratic nominee. A key point was also to target Trump in areas likely included in internal polling, meaning showing the ads that the Biden campaign was readying before they went public would have given the Trump team an at least indirect cue about the direction and outcome of the Biden campaign’s work along those lines. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) spoke on Twitter after Dominion revealed these details about the possibility these efforts for Trump constituted campaign contributions.

Such contributions don’t only take the form of funds. Whether it’s the hush money that Michael Cohen provided for Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election or the trips on a private jet tied to Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) from which the Herschel Walker campaign benefited, support for a campaign that isn’t in the form of cash provided directly to it can still be subject to federal rules — and limits. “These actions by Rupert Murdoch seem illegal,” Lieu said. “At the very least, it would appear to be a campaign contribution of significant value, well over federal campaign limits.”

The case in which these details emerged wouldn’t directly result in any criminal consequences for anybody at Fox. Dominion is instead pursuing financial penalties tied to the role Fox had in promoting what were blatant falsehoods about the company’s role in supposed election fraud that, of course, didn’t really happen. Trial in that case could be starting soon — meaning next month — after Dominion spent some time collecting evidence in forms including communication records from prominent Fox personalities and depositions of figures like Murdoch himself. It already came out recently in other reports that Dominion assembled key documentation showing top figures inside Fox, like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham, were doubtful of — or outright rejected — the false claims about the last presidential race that were being raised, including on air, by figures like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. The discrepancy between private sentiments and public broadcasts could help Dominion with showing actual malice at Fox News.