Tucker Carlson called Trump a ‘demonic force’, lawsuit reveals
Fox News says defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems is an assault on First Amendment
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Tucker Carlson allegedly called former president Donald Trump a “demonic force” who could “destroy” him if he missteps, in his texts to his producer.
“He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong,” Carlson texted his Fox News producers, according to court filings in the Dominion defamation case. He called Mr Trump “a demonic force, a destroyer,” adding, “But he’s not going to destroy us.”
The $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election has been termed as an assault on the First Amendment by the attorneys for the channel.
Fox News repeatedly broadcast lies about Mr Trump’s vote-rigging claims that it knew were “total bs”, Dominion Voting Systems said in a filing made public on Thursday.
Dominion wrote: “From the top down, Fox knew ‘the dominion stuff’ was ‘total bs’. 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 recognised the lies as ‘crazy’, ‘absurd’, and ‘shockingly reckless’”.
Attorneys for Fox, however, argued that Dominion advanced “novel defamation theories” and is seeking a “staggering” damage figure aimed at generating headlines, chilling protected speech and enriching Dominion’s private equity owner Staple Street Capital Partners and its investors.
“Dominion brought this lawsuit to punish FNN for reporting on one of the biggest stories of the day – allegations by the sitting president of the United States and his surrogates that the 2020 election was affected by fraud,” stated the Fox News counterclaim. “The very fact of those allegations was newsworthy.”
A Fox spokesperson said in a statement: “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 five-week trial is scheduled to begin on 17 April.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments