“I’m not surprised by any of this, and I’m not surprised by the settlement,” Camerota, who has worked at Fox News for 16 years, said Tuesday on “The Lead.” “I predict there will be a settlement entirely because Fox doesn’t want to air their dirty laundry in the court case.”
The two parties reached a $787.5 million settlement agreement at the last minute on Tuesday, avoiding what could have been a very high-profile trial for Fox News.
In a statement about the settlement Tuesday, Fox News said “we acknowledge the Court’s decision that found certain claims about Dominion to be false” and later called the settlement a reflection of Fox’s “continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.”
Camerota insisted that the settlement figure — the largest publicly known defamation settlement involving a media company in U.S. history — was still just “chump change” for Fox News.
“They make more than $1 billion a year, the news division,” he said.
“I think this is a victory for Fox. They don’t have to make a big star and they don’t have to apologize publicly,” he said.
He also dismissed the analysis of his CNN colleagues, saying: “When you say [Fox News] admit that he lied – no, no!”
“They say we acknowledge the court’s finding that certain claims about Dominion … are false,” Camerota said. “It’s not saying we’re lying. They’re saying they’re lying. And they’re saying ‘certain claims.’ They didn’t say they made the claims. They didn’t say the hosts made the claims. I think that’s the best outcome Fox can hope for if they get into this mess.
“We’re translating from lawyers to English, but I take your point,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper replied.
Dominion is suing for $1.6 billion, accusing Fox News hosts and executives of spreading false claims that voting machines helped rig the 2020 election. Evidence uncovered during the lawsuit suggests that certain network executives and talent knew the claims were false, but continued to broadcast them.