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Elections Fox News Fox News Lies

Even With The Dominion Case Settled, Fox Still Faces A Legal And Financial Sh*tshow

Sensing that they were about to lose the $1.6 billion defamation cause brought by Dominion Voting Systems and have the trial be spread across the daily news for weeks, Fox News settled the case Tuesday and agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million fine for damages it caused the company.

NBC News reports:

“Fox has admitted to telling lies,” John Poulos, Dominion CEO, said at a news conference after the trial ended.

“Money is accountability,” said Stephen Shackelford Jr., the attorney scheduled to give opening statements for Dominion on Tuesday.

But while Fox may be able to put the Dominon lawsuit behind them, they still face one hell of a legal and financial gauntlet.

For one thing, the network is still not completely in the clear with the Dominion case, as Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann explained on MSNBC shortly after the settlement was announced.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced Tuesday that he was appointing Delaware litigator John Elzufon to determine if Fox lied during the discovery phase of the Dominion lawsuit.

That led Weissmann to note, “We do have — the judge appointed today, a special master, by the way, that could continue.”

Host Nicolle Wallace then asked Weissmann if that might be one of the things that led Fox to settle so quickly. He replied, “Well, absolutely. Worst case scenario, we don’t know if this is the case, the worst case scenario, the special master has free rein to take depositions anew. And on Fox’s dime. And that means the worst case is that was not inadvertent that somebody said, ‘we’re not producing this,’ or ‘we’re going to produce this late in the day.'”

Weissmann added:

“I think there are ethical lawyers involved and I think when they would hear about that I’m pretty sure they would say, I’m not losing my Bar ticket over this. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t people at Fox who are deliberately keeping stuff away from Dominion. If that’s the case, just to be clear, that’s a crime. To obstruct the case.”

There’s also the matter of another defamation lawsuit. This one has been filed by Smartmatic which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages. That case was given the approval to proceed last month in a New York court, The Guardian reports.

Smartmatic claims that more than 100 false statements were broadcast by Fox News hosts and guests. Smartmatic was falsely said to have been involved in 2020 election counts in six battleground states – in fact, it was present only at the count in Los Angeles county.

Fox broadcast that Smartmatic shared its technology with Dominion, when in fact the two companies had no communication and regarded each other as rivals. Smartmatic was in cahoots with foreign governments in a conspiracy to rig the vote for Biden, Giuliani said on Bartiromo’s show – a claim that the company disputes as false and defamatory.

Fox is far from being in the clear. Their problems are only beginning.

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Fox News Fox News Lies Media in America

Fox Attorneys Won’t Be Allowed To Use Critical Defense Arguments In Dominion Lawsuit: Report

Now that a judge has decided a jury will be empaneled to hear the case of Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News, the conservative network is about to face a monumental task of defending itself from a $1.6 billion lawsuit without several crucial defense arguments.

That was the topic of discussion Sunday on MSNBC when host Katie Phang spoke with Jeremy Peters of The New York Times.

“Judge Eric Davis on Friday decimated much of Fox’s potential trial defenses, ruling that Fox cannot invoke the neutral report privilege because the evidence does not support that Fox conducted good faith reporting, Phang noted. “The judge is also blocking Fox from using the fair reporting privilege because the statements made by Fox and its guests were not related to official proceedings.”

Peters concurred with Phang, adding, “When the jury gets the case several of Fox’s key arguments will not be available for its lawyers to make.”

The Times reporter then elaborated:

“Several of these will have already been decided in Dominion’s favor because of the judge’s decision on Friday. So what this does is it significantly limits Fox’s ability to mount a defense and leaves for the jury the key question of whether or not there is enough evidence to show that Fox hosts, producers and executives knew what they were putting on the air was false or at least recklessly disregarded information showing that it was false.”

“That is how you get to potentially significant and sizeable judgment against Fox News,” Peters added. “Dominion is asking for $1.6 billion and appears that, unless this settles, which I think it’s highly unlikely at this point, and has already been highly unlikely because Fox appears to be preserving its options for appeal here, this is going to head to the jury and it will be one of the most significant and far-reaching defamation suits against a major media company that we have seen in decades.”

Fox is also facing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Smartmatic, an election and software technology company.

The first line of that lawsuit lays out exactly how both Smartmatic and Dominion plan to win their cases against Fox:

“The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable.”

None of those facts are up for debate. And they could wind up bankrupting Fox.

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Elections Fox News Fox News Lies

Second, ‘More Dangerous’ Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox Given Green Light To Proceed

As Fox News faces daily revelations from the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, yet another defamation suit against has been given the go ahead by a court, and this one is considered to be even more dangerous than the Dominion case.

The Guardian reports on the second lawsuit, which has been filed by Smartmatic and is seeking $2.7 billion in damages.

Smartmatic claims that more than 100 false statements were broadcast by Fox News hosts and guests. Smartmatic was falsely said to have been involved in 2020 election counts in six battleground states – in fact, it was present only at the count in Los Angeles county.

Fox broadcast that Smartmatic shared its technology with Dominion, when in fact the two companies had no communication and regarded each other as rivals. Smartmatic was in cahoots with foreign governments in a conspiracy to rig the vote for Biden, Giuliani said on Bartiromo’s show – a claim that the company disputes as false and defamatory.

Fox also described Smartmatic as having been founded in Venezuela at the behest of corrupt dictators. In fact, it was founded by Antonio Mugica and Roger Piñate in 2000 in Boca Raton, Florida, in the wake of the “hanging chad” fiasco, with the aim of using technology to restore people’s faith in election results.

Fox suggested in a statement that the Smartmatic lawsuit cannot stand up to First Amendment scrutiny:

“Freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs. There is nothing more newsworthy than covering the president of the US and his lawyers making allegations.”

But the one-two punch of Dominion and Smartmatic would seem to be Fox’s worst nightmare made reality, and the First Amendment doesn’t protect against blatant lies such as the ones Fox is accused of broadcasting.

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Fox News Fox News Lies Media in America

Here’s Why Fox’s Maria Bartiromo May Soon Be Broke And Unemployable

With Fox News facing the prospect of having to pay billions for lies their hosts told about the 2020 presidential election, one host in particular is on the verge of destroying the network’s already flimsy defense and also winding up being unemployable on any platform.

Maria Bartiromo is most often seen on Fox Business, but also does a Sunday program that appears on Fox News, “Sunday Morning Futures.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that testimony Bartiromo gave as part of the ongoing $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems is damning for Bartriromo and Fox.

Attorneys for Fox have repeatedly asserted that hosts such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Ingraham were merely offering their opinions on the 2020 election and never intended them to be statements of fact that require proof.

“In released court documents and deposition testimony connected to the case, Bartiromo is cited throughout for allowing former President Trump’s false claims about 2020 election fraud to air on the network in an effort to stop angry viewers from abandoning the network. Court testimony shows that in the days leading up to and following the 2020 election, colleagues and executives raised questions about Bartiromo’s online activity and expressed concerns that she was influenced by right-wing conspiracy theorists.”

Why is that a problem? Because Bartiromo herself said under oath that she’s a journalist who reports facts, not opinions.

“Bartiromo is one of four Fox News and Fox Business Network personalities cited in the suit along with Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs, who is no longer part of the company. Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that they all promoted false claims about the 2020 election, which he believed was fair.”

And therein lies the rub:

“The difference with Bartiromo is she identifies as a news anchor, as she indicated in her testimony. Hannity, Dobbs and Pirro are considered opinion hosts, and executives at Fox News testified that they are not held to the same journalistic standards as straight news programs.”

Even worse for Fox is that Bartiromo also testified “that no one in management did anything to stop her or force her to correct the record.”

“Bartiromo herself made misstatements, such as repeating inaccurate claims that Dominion was owned by voting software company Smartmatic, which is also suing Fox News and other conservative networks for defamation … several Fox News executives in their testimony concurred with Dominion’s assertions that Bartiromo did not challenge any of [Sidney] Powell’s false statements when she appeared on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’ Bartiromo also admitted that she never presented any evidence to counter Powell’s claims, even though she was provided with correct information provided by Dominion and other Fox News journalists.”

Bartiromo had the facts and the pushback from Dominion, but she chose to believe bullshit conspiracy theories. How’s that for a “straight news” anchor?

Fox is going to lose the Dominion lawsuit. They will likely lose the one filed by Smartmatic, which is for $2.7 billion, too. Punitive damages in both of those suits would bankrupt Fox News. It would also all but guarantee that Maria Bartriomo never works in the media for as long as she walks the face of the planet.

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Fox News Fox News Lies Media in America

Rupert Murdoch May Be Ready To Dump Hannity, Bartiromo, And Pirro As Fox News Implodes

Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch is on the verge of firing three of the most well-known hosts on the Fox News Network: Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro.

According to a report from Radar Online, the firings will be the result of the massive lawsuits Fox is facing from Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, both of whom are seeking billions of dollars from the network for lies told in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

At least three prominent Fox News stars are set to be axed from the embattled news network to help Rupert Murdoch save face amid the ongoing $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against him and his company, RadarOnline.com has learned.

In the latest development to come shortly after Murdoch admitted he did nothing to stop his Fox News talent from “promoting” ex-President Donald Trump’s baseless claims the 2020 presidential election was rigged, network insiders believe the 92-year-old billionaire media magnate will commit “blood sacrifices” in an effort to save the network’s bottom line.

Among the names on the list of those to be potentially axed from the network include popular Fox News stars such as Sean HannityMaria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro.

A media insider told Puck earlier this week that Fox is “totally fu*ked. Murdoch screwed himself and the company.

Portions of Murdoch’s testimony were made public this week as a result of the lawsuit filed by Dominion. In it, the Fox chief admitted that some of his hosts had indeed pushed known lies that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from failed former president Donald Trump and admitted Fox had done so to protect their financial bottom line:

“Rupert confirmed that he could tell FNN (Fox News Network) to stop running (MyPillow founder Mike) Lindell’s advertisements, ‘But I’m not about to.’ … and when asked why Fox continues to give a platform to Lindell — who continues to this day to spout lies about Dominion — Murdoch agreed that ‘It is not red or blue, it is green.’ … Lindell brought—and brings— Fox a lot of green. He also predictably brought the same lies about Dominion to Fox’s viewers that had been peddled on Fox’s ‘alternate reality machine’ for months.”

Ironically, Murdoch’s grab for “green” may wind up costing him a fortune and also destroy Fox, no matter who gets fired.