Rupert Murdoch's behind-the-scenes comments on 'really crazy' Trump election claims revealed in lawsuit

A lawsuit from voting machine maker Dominion alleges Fox News promoted Donald Trump's stolen election claim - despite owner Rupert Murdoch and other Fox identities not believing it was true. This is what's going on.

Rupert Murdoch has acknowledged under oath that some Fox News hosts 'endorsed' Donald Trump's false claim that the election was stolen.

Key Points

• Voting machine maker Dominion is suing Fox News in a $2.37 billion defamation lawsuit.
• It alleges Fox News hosts and owner Rupert Murdoch did not believe Trump's stolen election claims.
• But Fox News continued to promote Trump's claims, including that Dominion-made voting machines were rigged.

Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch has acknowledged under oath that some Fox News hosts 'endorsed' Donald Trump's false claim that the election was stolen - despite other evidence showing scepticism about the claim among hosts and executives.

Mr Murdoch made the comments during a deposition as part of a US$1.6 billion ($2.37 billion) defamation lawsuit that has been filed against Fox News in Delaware, United States.

The lawsuit, being brought by Dominion Voting Systems, has alleged that many behind the scenes at the network did not believe the false claims of election fraud from former US President Trump during the 2020 election. Supporters of Mr Trump had said Dominion voting machines were used to rig the result.

Dominion alleges Fox News started endorsing Mr Trump's false claims about election fraud because the channel was losing its audience after it became the first TV outlet to call the state of Arizona for Joe Biden, and projecting that the Democrat would win the presidency.

Donald Trump claimed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him. Source: AP / Morry Gash

Messages and testimony revealed as part of the lawsuit show some of the network's top stars and senior executives were sceptical about Mr Trump's claims, with Mr Murdoch describing it as "really crazy stuff", even though Fox News continued to promote the story.

Fox has argued that its coverage of claims by Mr Trump's lawyers were inherently newsworthy and protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Why is Dominion suing Fox News?

In its March 2021 lawsuit, Dominion says Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell appeared on Fox News and falsely claimed Dominion software may have manipulated vote counts in favour of Mr Biden.

On 30 November 2020, for example, Ms Powell appeared on Sean Hannity’s program on the network, where she falsely stated that Dominion machines "ran an algorithm that shaved off votes from Trump and awarded them to Biden. And they used the machines to trash large batches of votes that should have been awarded to President Trump".

Attorney Sidney Powell was a member of President Donald Trump's legal team. Source: AP / AP

It alleges that Fox amplified the false theories to boost its ratings and stay ahead of hard-right competitors including One America News Network, which Dominion is suing separately. It is also suing Mr Giuliani and Ms Powell.

"From the top down, Fox knew 'the dominion stuff' was 'total bs,'" Dominion said in a filing made public on 16 February. “Yet despite knowing the truth - or at minimum, recklessly disregarding that truth - Fox spread and endorsed these 'outlandish voter fraud claims' about Dominion even as it internally recognized the lies as 'crazy,' 'absurd,' and 'shockingly reckless'."

Dominion's filing, which reflects the outcome of months of discovery (a process that allows a parties in a lawsuit to obtain evidence from other parties) from both sides, included references to emails and statements in which Mr Murdoch and other top Fox executives say the claims made about Dominion on-air were false.

Fox hosts and co-hosts Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Jeanine Pirro and Bret Baier have also been questioned in recent months, court records show, as well as former host Lou Dobbs. Fox News Chief Executive Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace also sat for depositions.

Murdoch acknowledges Fox commentators endorsed false election claim

Dominion questioned Mr Murdoch under oath in January and he is the most high-profile figure to face questioning in the case.

Asked by a Dominion lawyer if some of Fox’s commentators had endorsed the idea that the 2020 election was stolen, Mr Murdoch responded, “Yes. They endorsed,” according to the filing.

When questioned if Fox had at times endorsed the idea of a stolen election, Mr Murdoch said: "Not Fox, No. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria [Bartiromo], as commentators."

Rupert Murdoch was questioned by Dominion lawyers in January.

Mr Murdoch testified he believed early on that "everything was on the up-and-up" [legitimate] with the election, and that he doubted claims of election fraud from the very beginning.

Asked by a Dominion lawyer if he could have prevented Mr Trump's lawyer Mr Giuliani from continuing to spread falsehoods about the election on-air, Murdoch responded, "I could have. But I didn't".

Mr Murdoch also said: "I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight".

According to Dominion's filing, when Murdoch watched Trump lawyers Mr Giuliani and Powell make unfounded claims about Dominion about two weeks after the election, he told Fox News Chief Executive Suzanne Scott: "Terrible stuff damaging everybody, I fear."

Fox host Tucker Carlson also mocked Ms Powell, writing to fellow host Laura Ingraham on 18 November, 2020 that the lawyer was "lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane".

The underlying exhibits for many statements remain under seal. Fox has said Dominion took them out of context.

What does Fox say about Dominion's lawsuit?

In its own filing made public Monday, Fox argued its coverage of Mr Trump's statements and his lawyers were inherently newsworthy and that Dominion’s "extreme" interpretation of defamation law would "stop the media in its tracks".

"Under Dominion’s approach, if the President falsely accused the Vice President of plotting to assassinate him, the press would be liable for reporting the newsworthy allegation so long as someone in the newsroom thought it was ludicrous," Fox said.

Fox's summary judgment filing motion was unsealed on 16 February, with the network arguing Mr Trump’s claims about the election were "undeniably newsworthy" and that viewers understood they were merely being reported as allegations.

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson was also interviewed as part of the Dominion lawsuit. Source: Getty / Getty Images North America

"There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion ... but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan," a Fox spokesperson said in a statement.

Fox has also filed a counterclaim in Delaware Superior Court, alleging that Dominion has no evidence to support its "staggering" damages claim.

Claims threaten to damage Fox News

Some believe the idea Fox News may have promoted a false theory despite many behind the scenes thinking it was not true threatens the reputation and finances of the network.

"This is so profoundly cynical, and deeply corrosive to the role of the largest cable news network in the country," Rick Wilson, a former Republican strategist who co-founded the anti-Donald Trump Lincoln Project, told The Guardian.

"They admittedly engaged in fraud and lied to their audience."

Defamation lawsuits are difficult to win in America due to the First Amendment and in order to be successful, Dominion must prove the network either knew the statements it aired were false, or it recklessly disregarded their accuracy.

Dominion's filing seeks a summary judgment, a court ruling in its favour without the need for a trial.

If the parties do not settle, a five-week trial is scheduled to begin on 17 April.

Additional reporting by Reuters.