Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch after the media mogul admitted in a deposition that some Fox News hosts "endorsed" the former president's false claims about his election loss.
Trump targeted Murdoch on Truth Social after court filings in Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion lawsuit against the network revealed that the Fox boss, other executives and pro-Trump Fox News hosts trashed the same false election claims they aired. Murdoch said in his deposition that he knew there was no truth to Trump's false claims but chose not to intervene as his network repeatedly aired them.
"Why is Rupert Murdoch throwing his anchors under the table, which also happens to be killing his case and infuriating his viewers, who will again be leaving in droves - they already are," Trump wrote on Tuesday, before repeating his widely debunked claims about nonexistent widespread voter fraud. "There is MASSIVE evidence of voter fraud & irregularities in the 2020 Presidential Election. Just look at the documentary '2000 MULES' and you will see large scale ballot stuffing caught on government cameras, or votes cast without Legislatures approval, or just recently, the FBI/Twitter Files Scandal. RIGGED!!!" Trump added, citing a discredited film by an ally he pardoned.
Trump in a subsequent post accused Fox News of not doing enough to push his false claims.
"There was so much Voter Fraud & Irregularities in the 2020 Presidential Election," the former president falsely claimed, "that it amazes me how weak and ineffective FoxNews is at portraying itself in the lawsuit against them. They look too scared and frightened to reveal the massive amounts of voter fraud & Irregularities already found, and it would actually help them in the lawsuit. Instead FoxNews wants to silence its anchors and reporters, the reason so many of their viewers fled. The Election was that of a Third World Country!"
Trump's posts did not address the slew of internal emails, messages and deposition excerpts revealing that even Trump's most ardent backers at the network thought his claims about the election were false.
Fox News pushed back on the filing, accusing the company of cherry-picking statements to "smear" the network.
"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," a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement. "Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment."
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Trump has repeatedly hit out at Fox News in recent days, attacking the network for hyping Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential challenger to Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
"FoxNews is promoting Ron DeSanctus so hard and so much that there's not much time left for Real News," Trump wrote on Monday. "Reminds me of 2016 when they were pushing 'JEB!' The new Fox Poll, which have always been purposely terrible for me, has 'TRUMP Crushing DeSanctimonious,' but they barely show it. Instead they go with losers like Karl Rove, Paul Ryan... who have been wrong about everything! Isn't there a big, beautiful, Network which wants to do well, and make a fortune besides? FAKE NEWS!"
A Fox News poll published on Sunday showed Trump leading DeSantis by 15 points, though both Republicans are well ahead of any other declared or potential challengers.
Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. also hit out at Fox News, criticizing the network for not inviting him on the air and accusing former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who sits on the board of Fox Corp., of being behind the snub.
"This guy is the guy on the board of Fox News, which also explains a lot about the direction and some of the content I'm seeing out there folks," Trump Jr. said in a video posted to Rumble. "This explains, to me, almost everything, frankly. I know I haven't been invited on in six months, so I'm sure that's him pushing his RINO, America Last, war-forever garbage to the Democrats' agenda."
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