Fox News And Dominion Voting Systems Have Settled Their Defamation Lawsuit

If the trial, which was expected to last six weeks, had gone ahead, it would have been up to a jury of 12 people in Delaware to decide whether Fox was financially liable for broadcasting the false claims about the voting machines. 

According to the Associated Press, Fox hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity and Executive Chair Rupert Murdoch were among those expected to testify. Many also believed that former host Lou Dobbs would also have taken the stand.

On Tuesday morning, before the opening arguments were set to begin, the judge authorized a special master to investigate Fox’s handling of discovery. According to ABC News, the order stated that the investigation by the special master would “include a determination” of whether Fox News and Fox Corp “complied with their discovery obligations” in providing information relevant to the trial.

Only a few hours earlier, NBC News had reported that ex–Fox News producer Abby Grossberg said that she had found more evidence relevant to the trial. She also said that lawyers for Fox had “ignored repeated reminders about the additional evidence” in her possession and “did not search it during a court-ordered discovery,” according to NBC.  

Discovery in the trial had already proved troubling for Fox. In March of this year, a cache of internal messages was made public that showed Fox executives, producers, and pundits privately disagreeing with Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, including a series of text messages that disparaged Trump even as Fox figureheads were publicly supporting the president. They showed that many within Fox News, including hosts Hannity, Carlson, and Laura Ingraham, seemed not to believe the false election claims, even though they pushed the allegations on their shows. 

Though the Dominion trial might be over, not the end of Fox News’ legal problems. In 2021, Smartmatic, a global technology company from London, also filed a $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Dobbs.

The lawsuit came after the network broadcasted a series of false claims concerning Smartmatic voting machines and the 2020 election. Fox News has disputed the damages claims and defended its coverage, saying in a statement, “there is nothing more newsworthy than covering the president of the US and his lawyers making allegations.” Around a month ago, the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan gave the go-ahead for the Smartmatic case to proceed.

After the Dominion settlement was announced, Smartmatic released a statement, per NBC, adding that “Dominion’s litigation exposed some of the misconduct and damage caused by Fox’s disinformation campaign. Smartmatic will expose the rest. Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy.”