Fox chair Murdoch in filings says 2020 election `not stolen'
NEW YORK >> Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said under oath that he believes the 2020 presidential election was free, fair and not stolen, according to court filings released Tuesday in a voting machine company's defamation lawsuit over Fox News' coverage of former President Donald Trump's false election fraud claims.
In sworn questioning in January by lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems, Murdoch was asked, “Do you believe that the 2020 presidential election was free and fair?”
“Yes,” he replied, according to a transcript.
“The election was not stolen,” he said later.
The transcript and other material released Tuesday expand on earlier disclosures that paint a portrait of behind-the-scenes doubt — or outright dismissals — of Trump's voting fraud claims, even as the network gave them airtime. In excerpts of Murdoch's questioning released earlier, he acknowledged that he didn't stop various Fox News commentators from promoting baseless claims from Trump allies that the election was stolen, even though he could have.
He also acknowledged that some of the network's hosts — Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity — at times endorsed the false claims.
Dominion is suing Fox News for $1.6 billion, saying the network crippled the company's business by broadcasting false claims from Trump's lawyers that Dominion had changed votes in the 2020 election.
Fox says Dominion is inventing its claims of lost business and has cherrypicked and misrepresented remarks by Fox hosts and leaders to paint a picture of a company that threw truth aside to keep its audience.