The top two Democrats in Congress called Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and the leadership of Fox News “to stop spreading the false election narrative and admit on air that they were wrong to do something immoral.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Democrats from New York, sent letters this week to the leaders of Murdoch and Fox News. The letter comes days after further revelations about Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox Corp and its TV networks.
“As noted in your deposition released yesterday Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other Fox News personalities willfully, repeatedly, and dangerously supported and promoted the Big Lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election,” the lawmakers said. write in the letter. , which was released on Wednesday.
Trump has repeatedly circulated false claims that the election was stolen from him. His attempt to force Georgia’s top officials to “find” votes for him is the subject of a criminal investigation in the state, where Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Earlier this week, Dominion filed court papers showing portions of testimony from Murdoch and other Fox Corp executives. In a deposition, Murdoch admitted that some of Fox’s top TV hosts endorsed the bogus election fraud claims.
When Murdoch was asked if he “now knows that Fox endorsed the bogus idea of a stolen election,” Murdoch replied, “Not Fox, no. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria. [Bartiromo] as a commentator,” according to court papers.
“Some of our commentators approve,” Murdoch said in his response to the election fraud during a deposition. “He agreed.” Murdoch and other Fox executives also remained close to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott during election coverage, according to court papers.
A representative for Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, when the court papers were filed, a representative of Fox News said that Dominion mischaracterized the facts in a voice-over: “While Dominion is not mischaracterizing the law, it is mischaracterizing the facts.”
Dominion is suing right-wing cable networks Fox News and Fox Business, and their parent companies, alleging the network and its top anchors made false claims that Dominion’s voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election. Fox News has consistently denied that it knowingly made false claims about the election. .
In court papers filed in February, the parent company said that last year’s discovery showed Fox Corp “had no role in the creation and publication of the challenged statements – all of which were broadcast on the Fox Business Network or the Fox News Channel.”
Murdoch and his son, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, in addition to Fox legal and policy officer Viet Dinh and Paul Ryan, a former Republican House speaker and Fox board member, have all been questioned in recent months.
The revelations that have come out in court papers in recent weeks come from months of discovery and depositions. Top Fox TV personalities, including Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, also face questions.
The face of Fox News and Fox Business also expressed disbelief in Sidney Powell, a pro-Trump attorney who aggressively promoted claims of election fraud at the time, according to court papers. Ryan said that “these conspiracy theories are baseless,” and that the network “must work hard to debunk conspiracy theories if and when they arise.”
The lawsuit has been shut down by watchdogs and First Amendment experts. Libel lawsuits typically focus on one false claim, but in this case Dominion cited a long list of examples of Fox TV hosts making false claims even after they were proven false. Media companies are often widely protected by the First Amendment. Fox News said in an earlier statement that “the heart of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech.”
A status conference is scheduled for next week, while the trial is expected to begin in mid-April.
Read the letter below:
Dear Mr. Rupert Murdoch et al:
As noted in the deposition released yesterday, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other Fox News personalities willfully, repeatedly, and dangerously support and promote the Big Lie that Donald Trump wins the 2020 presidential election. Even if you admit your regret allowing this massive propaganda to happen, your network host continues to promote, spout, and perpetuate election conspiracy theories to this day.
Your company leaders know the dangers of spreading such outlandish claims. By your own account, Donald Trump’s election was “devastating” and “really crazy stuff.” Despite the shocking admission, the Fox News host continued to deny the election to the American people.
It sets a dangerous precedent that ignores basic journalistic fact-checking principles and public accountability. This is all the more alarming after Speaker McCarthy reportedly allowed Tucker Carlson to review highly sensitive security camera footage of the events surrounding the January 6 uprising.
We ask you directly Tucker Carlson and other hosts on the network to stop spreading the false election narrative and admit on the air that they were wrong to do such verbal behavior.
As evidenced by the January 6 uprising, spreading this false propaganda not only encourages supporters of the Big Lie to engage in political violence, but also undermines faith in democracy and undermines our country in other ways.
Fox News executives and all the other hosts on your network have a clear choice. You can continue the pattern of lying to your audience and endangering democracy or go beyond things that will damage your company’s history by advocating truth and reporting the facts. We demand that Fox News stop spreading the Big Lie and other election conspiracy theories on your network.