It is no secret that Fox News host Tucker Carlson respects the conservative policies endorsed by former President Donald Trump but does not care for Trump as a person. Carlson has noted he does not think Trump acts presidential and has criticized his penchant for being petty, bombastic and even childish in attacking those perceived to be his enemies.
Carlson’s perspective on Trump is now in the spotlight in a suit against Fox News brought forward by Dominion Voting Systems.
Dominion has included a series of private texts from Carlson in their suit against Fox. One text to a Fox News employee reportedly reads:
“We are very very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait. I hate him passionately, I blew up at Peter Navarro today in frustration. I actually like Peter. But I can’t handle much more of this.”
The text does not evidence bias but is being used to embarrass Carlson and undermine Trump’s future political ambitions.
Dominion has alleged that Carlson and Fox News deliberately presented false claims about the integrity of its voting system and demanded $1.6 billion in damages.
Fox News argues that Dominion has presented comments out of context and seeks to abridge First Amendment rights. Attorneys for the conservative news platform are petitioning the court to dismiss the case.
After reviewing the findings Dominion presented in its suit against Fox, the news platform released this statement:
“Thanks to today’s filings, Dominion has been caught red handed using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press. We already know they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but to twist and even misattribute quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly beyond the pale.”
Dominion’s Tuesday addendum to its filings alleged internal communications show that Fox Corp. co-chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that Fox hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham “went too far” in supporting Trump’s claims about the 2020 election.
The Hill reported that internal memos and previous depositions show that Murdoch believed Trump’s claims regarding a “stolen 2020 election” were false.
The New York Times reported on five communication chains in which Carlson deeply criticized Trump.
One particularly harsh statement comes from a communique with producer Alex Pfeiffer regarding Trump’s response to the Jan. 6 protest and breach of the Capitol: “He’s a demonic force, a destroyer.” Carlson wrote. “But he’s not going to destroy us. I’ve been thinking about this every day for four years.”
If not dismissed, experts expect the defamation case to commence in April.
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