The most famous Fox News hosts – such as Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson – “brutally mocked” in private the claims of former President Trump and his allies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
This is according to leaked messages contained in court documents.
Even Rupert Murdoch is Involved
The messages allegedly showing the top Fox anchors considered Trump’s election allegations to be “crazy stuff” are included in a legal filing in the $1.6 billion lawsuit that Dominion Voting System filed against Fox News.
The leaked intra-Fox News messages that seem to disparage and insult the former president were jubilantly reported by mainstream media, such as CNN and The New York Times.
One set shows Tucker Carlson texted Laura Ingraham to tell her that Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell had “lied” and that Carlson “caught her” lying.
“Sidney is a complete nut,” Ingraham responded, adding nobody would work with Powell and another Trump lawyer, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Other messages show that Hannity thought Giuliani acted “like an insane person,” while Ingraham directly called the Trump lawyer an “idiot.”
The leaked materials allegedly demonstrate that Tucker Carlson was infuriated when Jacqui Heinrich, Fox’s White House correspondent, did a fact-check on a Trump tweet insisting on election fraud. Carlson reportedly texted Hannity to “get her fired.”
CNN’s report emphasized that the chairman of Fox Corporation, billionaire Rupert Murdoch, himself didn’t believe the rigged election claims.
Murdoch allegedly also considered sending Hannity, Ingraham, and Carlson on the air together to state that Biden won the 2020 presidential election fair and square.
The Fox Corp chief even said doing that would help tremendously to “stop the Trump myth” about the stolen election.
Newly disclosed messages from some of the biggest Fox News stars and executives reveal that they privately expressed disbelief about Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, even as the network promoted many of those lies. https://t.co/BrOmxIdOw6 pic.twitter.com/E9hztvLthx
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 17, 2023
In private exchanges, Fox News stars and execs expressed contempt for Trump's false election claims, calling them "mind-blowingly nuts," "totally off the rails" and "completely bs."
They also denounced colleagues for pointing that out publicly or on TV. https://t.co/hKHlN0VDxv
— NPR (@NPR) February 17, 2023
Holy shit. Texts obtained from Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox News shows Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham calling the right-wing guests on their own shows “F’ing lunatics,” “totally off the rails,” and “MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS.” (@oldmcdougall) https://t.co/WkgN0BQtFY
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) February 17, 2023
CNN Happily Claims 2020 Fox News Chaos Got Exposed
The report of CNN also all too happily stressed that Fox News messages leaked in Dominion Voting System’s court filing showed “the most vivid picture” so far of the behind-the-scenes “chaos” inside Fox News after the conservative channel’s favorite lost the election in 2020.
Dominion’s massive lawsuit against Fox News was filed in March 2021. It claims during its coverage of the 2020 vote, the conservative network “recklessly disregarded the truth” and promoted pro-Trump conspiracy theories.
The voting system provider claimed Fox News knew Trump was lying, but his “lies were good” for its “business.” Fox News reacted to the mainstream media’s reports based on the court documents by declaring the quotes they contained were lacking context.
The network pointed out that Dominion would seek to create lots of “noise and confusion” together with its “opportunistic equity partners” in order to advance its case.
However, it insisted the lawsuit was all about the defense of Americans’ freedom of speech and press freedom rights established by the US Constitution and reaffirmed in the New York Times v. Sullivan Supreme Court case.
The election was not stolen, only millions of people's critical thinking abilities.https://t.co/mtoava33tg
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) February 17, 2023
🚨BREAKING: Messages and testimony from Fox News stars and execs show their private disbelief over Trump's voter fraud claims, while the network continued to promote many of those lies on the air.
* There is no paywall. This article has been gifted by the https://t.co/CBohxUTsHs… https://t.co/fx21L5Wmtp
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) February 16, 2023
