Chris Stirewalt, the former Fox News political editor who said he was fired after correctly projecting that Joe Biden would win Arizona in the 2020 election, has weighed in on the network’s colossal settlement agreement with Dominion Voting Systems.
In an interview with Semafor media reporter Max Tani after the news of the $787.5 million settlement Tuesday, Stirewalt said it will be interesting to see who will be kicked out this time.
“What’s the sound of apologizing? Who was fired? What are the consequences for the company?” he wondered.
He said the network wants to “reset” after the 2020 election, but Dominion’s lawsuit “seems to loosen that approach.” Now that it’s settled, he said, the network must consider how to approach the next case in the pipeline — a separate but similar $2.7 billion lawsuit filed by voting technology company Smartmatic.
“It will be interesting to see the new approach they take,” Stirewalt said.
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Stirewalt was let go after a right-wing backlash to Fox News calling Arizona for Biden in the 2020 election. He has since landed roles as NewsNation’s political editor and as a Dispatch contributing editor.
He criticized his former employer for putting profit before the truth and exaggerating former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.
He told Semafor that he was not surprised that the network settled the lawsuit.
Dominion is suing Fox News for $1.6 billion, accusing the media company of defamation by promoting lies about its role in the 2020 election despite knowing the allegations were untrue. Private correspondence uncovered during the lawsuit suggests that top network executives and hosts thought some of the claims aired were ludicrous.
The case was scheduled to go to trial on Tuesday, but the parties reached a deal after a reported eleventh-hour push by Fox News to settle the dispute out of court.
Read more of Stirewalt’s interview with Tani here.