Democratic Leaders Seize On Rupert Murdoch Deposition In Dominion Lawsuit, Call On Fox News To Stop Spreading “Election Denialism”
01.03.2023 - 19:29
/ deadline.com
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries seized on the latest revelations from Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, as they called on Rupert Murdoch to curb hosts from spreading election conspiracy theories.
According to a Dominion filing on Monday, Murdoch said in a recent deposition that some Fox News hosts “endorsed” the “false notion of a stolen election.” Murdoch, however, saw many of Donald Trump’s claims as “bulls—.”
“Though you have acknowledged your regret in allowing this grave propaganda to take place, your network hosts continue to promote, spew, and perpetuate election conspiracy theories to this day,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote in their letter to Murdoch. (Read it here).
“The leadership of your company was aware of the dangers of broadcasting these outlandish claims. By your own account, Donald Trump’s election lies were ‘damaging’ and ‘really crazy stuff.’ Despite that shocking admission, Fox News hosts have continued to peddle election denialism to the American people,” they wrote.
A spokesperson for Fox Corp. declined comment.
Fox News and Fox Corp., named defendants in the lawsuit, have said that Dominion’s lawsuit takes an “extreme” view of defamation law, as its hosts and anchors were covering something undoubtedly newsworthy: a sitting president’s claim that the election was stolen from him.
“The Washington Post could be on the hook for reporting President Trump’s allegation that President Obama was born in Kenya, since several of its editors understood that the claim was bogus,” the network said.
The network also contends that Dominion is highlighting texts and emails that ultimately won’t apply to the legal issues involved in the