Fox News Hosts Did Not Believe 2020 Election Fraud Claims, Court Filing States
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Prominent Fox News (Right Bias) figures such as Tucker Carlson (Right Bias) and Laura Ingraham privately expressed disbelief of former president Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 election, according to a court filing from Dominion Voting Systems.
For Context: Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox in 2021, claiming the outlet purposely aired false claims about the company’s role in the 2020 election.
The Filing: The filing states, "privately, Fox's hosts and executives knew that Donald Trump lost the election and that he needed to concede. But Fox viewers heard a different story — repeatedly," and alleges that Fox intentionally spread misleading information about election results after receiving backlash from viewers and other right-rated media for announcing Joe Biden had won in Arizona. Carlson is quoted telling Sidney Powell, a Trump attorney who repeatedly claimed the election had been stolen from Trump, “you’ve convinced them that Trump will win. If you don’t have conclusive evidence of fraud at that scale, it’s a cruel and reckless thing to keep saying.” Ingraham is quoted as calling Powell “a bit nuts.”
How The Media Covered It: AllSides was unable to find any original reporting on the filing from right-rated outlets. Breitbart News (Right Bias) and Washington Times (Lean Right Bias) reposted coverage from other outlets.
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Fox News Hosts, Executives Raised Concerns About 2020 Election-Fraud Claims Made on the Air, Filing Shows
Top Fox News anchors and executives privately raised concerns about false claims of voter fraud made on the air by network hosts and guests following the 2020 presidential election, according to a court filing made public Thursday.
The communications, which included text messages and depositions, appeared in a motion for summary judgment by voting-machine company Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing Fox News and Fox Corp for what it alleges were defamatory on-air comments about its products in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s defeat to President Joe Biden. It...
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Fox News repeatedly broadcast lies about vote-rigging claims that it knew were “total bs,” Dominion Voting Systems said in a filing made public on Thursday, as part of the election technology company's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.
The media giant countered that the suit was an assault on a free press and that Dominion could not prove its claims.
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The basic story of Fox News and the 2020 election is well understood. Fox’s relatively small news operation covered the vote count accurately; this coverage infuriated President Donald Trump, the MAGA base, and Fox’s opinion stars; some viewers temporarily flipped to further-right outlets, such as Newsmax; and Fox panicked.
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