According to a $1.6B 200-page defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company Fox Corporation filed by Dominion Voting System, sellers of electronic voting hardware and software, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham slammed Rudy Giuliani in leaked formerly private text messages following the 2020 election. They also allegedly ridiculed former President Donald Trump, 76, for believing the election was stolen from him.
The lawsuit essentially accuses the network of maligning the company’s reputation by pushing bogus claims of election fraud to win back viewers who were upset that President Biden, 80, was revealed as the winner of the 2020 election.
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Sean Hannity And Laura Ingraham Slam Rudy Giuliani In Leaked Text Messages Following 2020 Election
In a November 11th 2020 text, Hannity, 61, wrote that the 78-year-old former New York City mayor, who was at the forefront of former President Donald Trump's effort to overturn the results of the election, was "acting like an insane person." And on December 22nd, he also wrote that Giuliani and his allies were "[expletive] lunatics," while Ingraham, 59, said Giuliani was "such an idiot."
On November 6th, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, 91, who is also the Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, wrote in a memo to a Fox News executive that "Rudy advising" Trump was a "really bad" move, also adding that he was saying and doing "really crazy stuff." Murdoch also allegedly wrote that it was "very hard to credibly claim foul everywhere," also adding that Trump’s obsession with trying to overturn the election was "terrible stuff damaging everybody." Ten days later, after the election had been called for Biden, Murdoch wrote that Giuliani should be "taken with a large grain of salt."
Tucker Carlson Also Named In The Lawsuit
Controversial commentator Tucker Carlson, 53, was also named in the suit, in particular due to what he said about senior Trump attorney Sidney Powell, 67, who repeatedly blamed Dominion’s machines for flipping votes cast for Trump to Biden.
Carlson told a producer in a text message that "Sidney Powell is lying," while also saying that Powell is an "unguided missile" and "dangerous as hell," while he described Trump as a "demonic force" who was good at "destroying things," adding, "He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong."
Hannity also weighed in, according to the lawsuit, reportedly saying in a deposition, "that whole narrative that Sidney was pushing, I did not believe it for one second." Ingraham also allegedly told Carlson that Powell was "a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy."
Fox News Releases Statement
A spokesperson for Fox News has since released a statement calling the lawsuit a threat to free speech, and said the evidence it had collected has been "mischaracterized."
"Dominion has mischaracterized the record, cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context, and spilled considerable ink on facts that are irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law," the spokesperson said.
