"I passionately hate him," Fox News host Tucker Carlson wrote after the 2020 election.

By Jane C. Timm, Amanda Terkel and Dareh Gregorian —

On January 4, 2021, Fox News host Tucker Carlson was fed up with former President Donald Trump.

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.

I really can't wait,” he sent a cell phone message to an unidentified person.

"I hate him passionately," she added, "I can't take much more of this."

By then, Fox News was in crisis.

He had angered his audience when he said, correctly, that Democrat Joe Biden had won Arizona in the presidential election.

Executives and newscasters were concerned about losing audiences to upstart rivals, notably Newsmax.

[Private messages show how Fox News journalists gave credence to Trump's lies despite not believing them]

But the private comments were a far cry from what Carlson's viewers were used to hearing from the conservative host on his prime-time show.

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“We all pretend we have a lot to prove because admitting what a mess this has been is too hard to swallow,” he said in another text message, referring to the “last four years.”

"But," he added, "

The revelation is found in hundreds of pages of testimonials, text messages and emails from Fox News journalists and executives made public Tuesday, adding to documents showing a network in crisis after it alienated top viewers. by accurately reporting the results of the 2020 presidential election.

A judge unsealed the documents, along with portions of employee statements, as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.

The messages are hard-hitting and at times profane, as hosts and top executives panicked about

The remarks, meanwhile, offer the broadest picture yet of how executives, including Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch,

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Fox News accused Dominion in a statement of dishonestly portraying the internal communications of key figures.

“Thanks to the documents filed today, Dominion has been caught

using further distortions and misinformation in its public relations campaign to smear Fox News and trample on free speech and press freedom,” the statement said.

“We already know that they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but misrepresenting and even misattributing quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly out of the question,” she adds. 

Smaller snippets of the exchanges were referenced in two Dominion briefs made public in a Delaware court last month, when Dominion asked the judge for summary judgment and opposed Fox News' motion asking the judge to dismiss the case.

Dominion's reports previously revealed that senior Fox News officials privately criticized the

," even when the network aired them on television, and that Chief Murdoch considered some of the voter fraud claims Trump's voter fraud was

," though he acknowledged in a statement that he did nothing to curb anchors who were promoting the false claims in the days after the 2020 election.

“The emails, texts, and statement testimonials speak for themselves.

We welcome all the scrutiny of our evidence because it all leads to the same place:

,” a Dominion spokesperson told NBC News.

Dominion, a voting machine company, sued Fox News in March 2021, alleging that it caused "serious damage" by giving oxygen to conspiracy theories it knew to be false, including false claims that Dominion equipment was used to

who was linked to the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez and who bribed US officials.

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Tensions between Trump and Fox News have escalated in recent months as more revelations have come to light and as Murdoch's media empire has turned to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential rival in 2024. Steve Bannon , a former White House official and longtime Trump ally, has essentially declared war on Murdoch and Fox. Trump has also criticized them in messages on his Truth Social network.

Fox News has declared itself "proud of our coverage of the 2020 elections, which is in the highest tradition of American journalism," and has argued that Dominion's lawsuit is only intended to grab headlines.

Dominion says

“As the dominant media company among viewers unhappy with the election results, Fox gave these fictions a prominence that they would never have achieved otherwise.

With Fox's global platform, an audience in the hundreds of millions, and the inevitable widespread republication and dissemination of falsehoods via social media, these lies deeply

," the 441-page lawsuit states. .

,” he adds.

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Murdoch worried that Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham "went too far"

On January 21, 2021, the day after Biden's inauguration, Murdoch sent an email to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott discussing the criticism he was receiving from Republican senators for articles that they suggested that the elections had been stolen.

“They keep throwing mud at us!”

Murdoch wrote, "Maybe Sean and Laura went too far," he continued, referring to

hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.

He also asked Scott if it was "indisputable that high-level voices at Fox fed the story that the election had been stolen and that January 6 was an important opportunity to overturn the result."

Scott forwarded the request to a group of executives, noting "please send hard facts."

Six hours later, Irena Briganti, the Fox News executive in charge of communications, responded with more than 15 pages of sample transcripts.

In an email the day after Biden's inauguration, Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch wondered if some Fox News anchors "had gone too far" with the myth of stolen elections. Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit exhibits

Prime time anchors were furious at the news division for its wise election decision

In a text message chain in mid-November, Hannity, Ingraham and Carlson complained about their news colleagues and the network's decision to give Arizona a favorite to Biden.

Fox News was the first network to do so, and the decision was wise.

"Why would anyone defend that call?" Hannity asked.

“My anger at the news channel is pronounced,” Ingraham said later in the exchange.

Carlson chimed in, saying, “It should be.

We spend our lives building an audience and let Chris Wallace and Leland [expletive] Vittert tear it apart.

Too much".

Wallace and Vittert were Fox News anchors at the time.

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Maria Bartiromo said she would not refer to Biden as the president-elect on the air

In text messages with Bannon on November 10, 2020, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo said,

, and she lamented how annoying it was to see how “the world moved on”.

“I want the massive fraud to be discovered.

Will he be able to turn this around? ”, He added referring to Trump.

“I told my team that we are not allowed to say president-elect at all.

Neither in the scripts nor in the banners on the air.

Until this goes through the courts,” he added.

“You are our fighter,” Bannon later retorted.

“Enough of sadness!

We need you".

Biden was proclaimed the winner of the presidential race on November 7.

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Murdoch predicted Trump would be 'irrelevant'

In an email to former Fox executive Preston Padden 20 days after the election, Murdoch said he believed the network was "navigating" everything "pretty well."

“And losing tons of viewers — but not the lead yet!

We just have to keep our nerves up and up our game!

and we will have a lot to say about Biden, the Democrats and the appointments, so far pretty boring,” he predicted.

Murdoch's name is redacted, but the email was mentioned and attributed to him in previously published reports.

Fox News Executive Observes: "It's Remarkable How Low Ratings Make Good Journalists Do Bad Things"

In a conversation with Fox News journalist Chris Stirewalt on December 2, 2020, about a month after the election, Bill Sammon, who was then the network's editor-in-chief, lamented the state of the place where they worked.

“More than 20 minutes have passed since our star news program of the night and we are still focused solely on the alleged electoral fraud, one month after the elections.

,” Sammon said.

Stirewalt added: “It's a real disaster.

But sadly

. "

Sammon retorted: "In my 22 years affiliated with Fox, this is the closest I've seen to an

, at least journalistically."

Stirewalt later said that he believed they were "losing the silent majority of viewers as we chase the madmen off a cliff."

A month after the 2020 election, Bill Sammon, then a senior executive at Fox News, said the network was having an "existential crisis." Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit exhibits

Trump's Carlson: 'I hate him passionately'

Carlson, one of the main anchors of Fox News, made it clear on January 4, 2021 that she was fed up with Trump.

In a text message exchange with an unknown person, Carlson said:

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.

I really can't wait."

“I passionately hate him.

Today I have exploded against Peter Navarro out of frustration, ”she added, referring to the former Trump Administration official.

“I actually like Peter.

But I can't take much more of this."

He wrote in another text message: “This has been the last four years.

But we go.

There's really nothing good about Trump."

Carlson, however, has complained about how journalists seem to "hate Trump with an all-consuming mania," as he did in a segment on October 30, 2020.

Murdoch wonders if Pence will pardon Trump

In an email sent on January 12 to Paul Ryan—the former Wisconsin House Speaker who served on the Fox Corp board—and his son Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch discussed the aftermath of the January 6 riots. at the Capitol.

“I just had a long talk with Suzanne Scott,” he said, referring to the CEO of Fox News, “everything changed last Wednesday.

She believes that now everyone is upset and the previous supporters are heartbroken."

Murdoch also said that Trump was now in deep trouble.

“His business is ruined,” he said.

“Who's going to throw a party at one of his golf clubs or hotels?

Not to mention a tournament.

So he has more than just legal problems, bad as they are.

The mark is now poison!

Who wants fashion lines, jewelry, etc.

from Ivanka?

Murdoch even wondered if Trump could step down and be pardoned by then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Rupert Murdoch said Trump's problems were "multiplying" and his business was "ruined" after the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill. Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit exhibits

Fox Corp: Murdoch never shared an unaired Biden ad

The newly unsealed documents cast doubt on whether Murdoch actually shared unaired Biden campaign ads with the Trump campaign through Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, as a Dominion filing claimed last week.

In his affidavit, Murdoch denies and admits to sharing campaign ads with the Trump campaign before they were made public.

In emails released as evidence, Murdoch promises to share an announcement scheduled for a soccer game.

It is not clear if it refers to an ad broadcast or not.

“Murdoch reposted an already public Biden campaign ad that was available on YouTube,” a Fox Corp. spokeswoman, Lauren Townsend, said in an email to NBC News. 

Two groups filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission against the Trump campaign and Fox Corp. over the alleged ad swapping.

Fox's lawyer warned Hannity that he was "stepping terribly close to the line"

Two days after the 2020 election, Hannity was making a lawyer for Fox Corp. Viet Dinh nervous.

“Let's keep buckling up for the next 24-hour ride,” Dinh wrote in an email to other top executives.

," he added.

Network 'Angry Conservatives' Slam Fox News After Election

The week after the election, Fox Corp. Vice President Raj Shah, a senior vice president at Fox Corp., sent out a memo on the state of the Fox “brand,” showing that the network was taking a beating from its conservative audience.

“This week we have continued to see

both on social media and in pro-Trump commentary,” the weekly report on Nov. 13 read.

“About half of the top 100 tweets and a third of the top 100 Facebook posts mentioning Fox News were from angry conservatives who criticized Fox or threatened to boycott the network.

Both Donald Trump and Newsmax have played an active role in promoting attacks on Fox News, including by spreading leaked images and false reports about Fox News talent."

Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit exhibits

The report included a graph showing the net favorability of Fox News among its viewers that week, with a trend line going down sharply.