Rupert Murdoch admits some Fox News hosts 'endorsed' Trump's false election claims

Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged in a deposition on a case filed by Dominion Voting Systems that some Fox News hosts endorsed Donald Trump's election lies in 2020. He also said in the testimony that he did nothing to stop them from doing so and promoting the claims. The $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems targets the manner in which the news channel handled Trump's claims of the 2020 election being stolen.

During the testimony, Murdoch was asked if he was aware that some of the network’s commentators were endorsing false election claims, to which he said, “Yes. They endorsed.” This included hosts like Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity.

Murdoch further said that the network as a whole did not endorse the election falsehood, but only some of the commentators promoted Trump's claims of a stolen presidential election. “Some of our commentators were endorsing it,” Murdoch said, according to the filing. “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,” he added.

The defamation filing addresses concerns how the channel handled the entire matter in the face of falling ratings and after it called Arizona for Joe Biden.

A previous filing revealed that some of the hosts mocked Trump's false election claims even while giving the matter a platform on air. A text from November 16, 2020, mentioned how Fox News host Carlson said “Sidney Powell is lying” about having evidence for election fraud.

The hearing also revealed how at one point Murdoch wanted Carlson, Hannity, and Laura Ingraham to come together in prime time to declare Biden as the rightful winner. Murdoch believed that doing so “would go a long way to stop the Trump myth that the election was stolen.”

Fox has also slammed the entire lawsuit, saying that it only wants to "generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny".

“Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims," the network said.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE