[return to Not Going Back] [return to Bogus Fraud Claims]
Huge Fines for False Accusations
Fox News Paid $800 Million Settlement for Promoting Trump Election Lies
Fox News was sued for $1.6 billion by the company Dominion Voting Systems for spreading false accusations that their voting machines had manipulated the 2020 presidential vote. Documents showed that Fox staff did not themselves believe what they presented on-air. Fox agreed to pay almost $787 million to avoid a civil trial which might have revealed even more wrongdoing.
“court documents piled embarrassment upon embarrassment upon disgrace: Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott warned her colleagues against running fact-checking segments by the network’s own reporters debunking lies about election fraud, even as it gave such bogus claims acres of prime real estate. Primetime stars Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity privately trashed the people who lied about Dominion on their network’s airwaves and yet also trashed the reporters who sought to hold them accountable for those lies. … Hannity didn’t believe ‘for one second’ the lies being peddled by Trump and on Fox itself, even though, as Murdoch put it, the star endorsed them ‘a bit.'”
-NPR, Fox News settles blockbuster defamation lawsuit
The settlement occurred after Judge Eric M. Davis ruled that Dominion had proved that the allegations against them were demonstrably false statements and not merely opinions. While Fox lawyers claimed that Fox hosts such as Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro were merely allowing guests on their shows to present their opinion, the judge concluded that “When viewed in the full context of the overall communication expressed during the segment, a reasonable viewer would understand that the Statement is asserting facts regarding Dominion, not an opinion.”
Fox News Would Rather Lie Than Risk Losing Viewers by Telling the Truth
“Fox News presents itself as a necessary counterweight to the supposed left-wing bias of other media outlets. … The press does make mistakes, sometimes very serious ones… But even errors of fact and framing, ideology or analysis, are different from what Fox News hosts do, which is attempt to get their viewers to believe things they themselves know are false. Fox News is distinct not only from most other broadcasters, but also from conservative magazines and websites whose writers are right-wing but maintain a sense of intellectual independence. Fox News understands that its success depends on maintaining a fantasy world, rather than doing anything to disturb it.”
–Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, Fox Hosts Knew – And Lied Anyway
Giuliani Defamed Georgia Election Workers
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had accused two election workers two election workers of manipulating ballots in Fulton County, Georgia. Trump repeatedly mentioned one of them by name in a call with Georgia officials. The two election workers sued Giuliani for defamation. Outside the courthouse, Giuliani claimed he would prove the accusations he had made against the women in court, but instead he signed a declaration telling the court that he made “false” statements that were “defamatory”. A jury ordered Giuliani to pay the women $148 million.
State Bar Association Judgement Against Giulianli
Rudy Giuliani was “suspended from the practice of law in the State of New York”. The judgment lays out the basis of the suspension, concluding that Giuliani “communicated demonstrably false and misleading statement to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign…”
The first of many examples of false claims in the judgement is that in Pennsylvania in the 2020 election, “more absentee ballots came in during the election than were sent out before the election,” thus raising the question of fraud.. “Respondent does not deny that his factual statement, that only 1.8 million mail-in ballots were requested, was untrue. His defense is that he did not make this misstatement knowingly.” The ruling goes on to tear apart the excuse Giuliani offered for his “misstatement”. Similarly, at various times Mr. Giuliani claimed that from 8,000 to 30,000 dead people voted in Philadelphia, including deceased boxer Joe Frazier, but failed to provide the court “a scintilla of evidence for any of the varying and wildly inconsistent numbers of dead people he factually represented voted in Philadelphia” even though he had “assured the public that he was investigating this claim.” The claim about Frazier is “unequivocally… false”.
Giuliani claimed that “Georgia election officials engaged in the illegal counting of mail-in ballots.” The claim was based on surveillance video of the counting which “were viewed in their entirety by the Secretary’s office, law enforcement, and fact checkers who, according to [Republican] Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, all concluded that there was no improper activity.” Giuliani made his claims as late as January 3, 2021, but apparently they had already been refuted by officials on Dec 4, 2020.
Other Defamation Suits
Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and news network OAN both paid undisclosed amounts to others they had recklessly accused of election fraud.