Fox News executives blocked Trump from giving an interview during the January 6 Capitol riots, records show

Within hours after a violent mob breach United States capital On January 6, 2021, executives at Fox Corp vetoed former President Donald Trump’s attempt to appear online, according to Court documents filed on Thursday.

The documents allege that the former president dialed in Lou Dobbs’ character broadcast on the afternoon of January 6, but executives blocked Trump’s attempt to appear on the air.

“Fox refused to allow President Trump to air that night because ‘it would be irresponsible to put him on the air’ and ‘could have a negative impact on many people’,” the filing said.

The documents were released to the public for the first time this week as part of the Dominion Voting System’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox Corp and its cable networks. Dominion sued Fox and its right-wing cable networks, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing that these networks and their hosts made false claims that the company’s voting machines cheated rigging the results of the 2020 election. The case is pending in Delaware Superior Court.

Dominion, Fox Corp and Fox News filed a summary judgment request this week, which revealed evidence from months of discoveries and depositions that had been kept under wraps until this point. Fox News anchor, as well as Fox Corp’s flagship brass includes Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, is asked in recent months.

Evidence also shows that top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham expressed distrust of fraudulent claims against Dominion that it rigged the election. The host is particularly suspicious of the fraudulent claims of pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell and Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani.

Ingraham said in a text message to Carlson: “Sidney is a total jerk. No one will ever work with her. Neither will Rudy,” according to the documents.

Fox and its networks have rigorously denied the claims. In court papers on Thursday, Fox Corp said it “had no role in the creation and publication of the challenged statements – all of which aired on the Fox Business Network or the Fox News Channel. ”

Meanwhile, Fox News reiterated in court documents that it “has fulfilled its commitment to full notice and fair comment” about Dominion’s alleged election fraud against Trump.

“There will be a lot of noise and confusion created by Dominion and its opportunistic private equity holders, but at the heart of this case remains freedom of the press and freedom of expression, which are fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan,” Fox said in a statement released Thursday.

Dominion said in court documents that Fox and its hosts felt pressure from the audience backlash on election night 2020 when they called the state of Arizona for Biden. That pressure was evident in text messages between top Fox figures in the weeks following the election, which ran through January 6.

On the eve of January 6, Rupert Murdoch told Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, “We suggest that the most important moment the three of us should be independent or together say something like ‘a conversation’ the election is over and Joe Biden has won’,” according to court documents. Saying so “would be of great help in stopping the myth about Trump that the election was stolen,” he added.

On the evening of January 6, Carlson texted his producer, calling Trump “a force of evil. A destroyer. But he won’t destroy us,” court records show.

The lawsuit has been closely followed by First Amendment watchdogs and experts say defamation lawsuits often focus on a single wrongdoing but in this case, Dominion cites a long list of examples of Fox TV hosts making false statements even after they have been proven untrue. Media companies are generally widely protected by the First Amendment.

Testing is expected to begin in mid-April.