By Kevin Collier and Jane C. Timm -
NBC News
Journalists and senior executives at the conservative television network Fox News knew that Donald Trump's claims of voter fraud in 2020 were false, but gave credence to this narrative to viewers, according to private communications contained in newly released court documents.
The documents contain private messages from Fox News employees who covered the election.
These internal communications reveal that producers, executives and presenters of the chain
knew that the elections had not been fraudulent and that many of Trump's accusations in this regard were false.
[Parts of the grand jury report that investigated whether Trump tried to reverse the results of the 2020 election are revealed]
The conversations suggest that
Fox News fueled allegations of alleged voter fraud to boost ratings
and keep its conservative audience engaged.
This came at a time when network executives feared viewers would lose interest in election coverage, especially after Fox News became the first network to claim that Joe Biden had won Arizona, a battleground state.
Several prominent broadcasters on the network said privately they were aware that Trump's lawyer, Sidney Powell, who filed lawsuits to prevent states where Biden won from certifying the results, was not telling the truth, according to court documents.
"I didn't believe it for a second
," said Sean Hannity, one of Fox News' top anchors.
Sean Hannity, prominent Fox News host, during a show in January 2023. Theo Wargo / Getty Images
According to court documents, Bill Sammon, a Fox News vice president and Washington bureau chief, told a colleague in December:
"It's amazing how low ratings get good journalists to do bad things."
The documents where these messages can be read are the most recent to see public light as part of the 1.6 billion dollar defamation lawsuit filed against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems, one of the largest manufacturers of voting equipment in USA.
Dominion has been targeted by conspiracy theorists who falsely claim that Trump won the 2020 presidential election. His lawsuit includes hundreds of pages detailing times the chain has made erroneous accusations against the company, including that its software was
rigged
in against Trump and that the company was secretly owned by Venezuela.
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“Dominion and its opportunistic private equity owners will create a lot of noise and confusion, but at the heart of this case remains freedom of the press and freedom of expression, which are fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution,” Fox News said in a statement on Thursday night.
The recently revealed messages and comments are the clearest proof that many at Fox News, from journalists, top executives, to its CEO, Rupert Murdoch, were
aware that the accusation of voter fraud had no basis in fact
.
and offer a unique look at the chaotic post-election period on the network.
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What the court documents reveal
“I'm watching Giuliani speak!
A real madness.
And damaging,”
Rupert Murdoch
wrote in an email in mid-November, as the network he founded broadcast a lengthy and confusing press conference in which Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell made allegations about his alleged vending machines. hacked voting and an alleged conspiracy by foreign communists.
Shortly after the election, host
Tucker Carlson
told him
wrote a message to a producer telling him that Powell "is lying" about voter fraud.
Carlson would send the same message to Fox News host Laura Ingraham later in the month, adding that "it's crazy" and "it's incredibly offensive to me.
Our viewers are good people and they believe it
. "
“She's a w----- nutcase,” Carlson's producer Alex Pfeiffer said, referring to Powell, Trump's lawyer.
Ingraham's producer, Tommy Firth, wrote at one point: "This Dominion s----- is going to give me an aneurysm."
Firth had concluded that the Dominion claims were false, according to the lawsuit.
Dominion is also suing Powell for defamation.
The attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
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Some details of the internal management at Fox News during election coverage are redacted in court documents, but may soon come to light.
Dominion filed an application with the court on Friday to order its public disclosure.
"Dominion's position is that there is nothing" in these documents "to justify their treatment as confidential," the company's lawyers said Friday.
[Video shows Trump invoking the Fifth Amendment hundreds of times while being questioned during fraud investigation]
Dominion has alleged that, in order to boost viewership ratings, the network deliberately issued false claims that “recklessly ignored the truth” and smeared the company.
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Fox News has defended its coverage of the 2020 election
and has maintained that its broadcasts are protected by the First Amendment.
In a countersuit filed Thursday, the network said Dominion had no evidence to support its "amazing" claim for damages and
argued that Trump's claims were "undeniably newsworthy
. "
“Dominion's lawsuit is an attack on the First Amendment and the freedom of the press,” Fox News wrote in its countersuit.