TOP EXECUTIVES AT FOX NEWS AND

LEADING NETWORK PERSONALITIES

PRIVATELY DISMISSED FORMER

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP'S FALSE

CLAIMS OF VOTER FRAUD IN THE

DAYS THAT FOLLOWED THE 2020

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, EVEN AS

THEY PUSHED THOSE SAME LIES ON

TELEVISION.

SEAN HANNITY: TONIGHT EVERY

AMERICAN SHOULD BE ANGRY.

YOU SHOULD BE OUTRAGED.

YOU SHOULD BE WORRIED AND

CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN

THE ELECTION AND THE LEAD UP TO

THIS ELECTION.

JUDGE PIRRO: THE DOMINION

SOFTWARE SYSTEM HAS BEEN TAGGED

AS ONE ALLEGEDLY CAPABLE OF

FLIPPING VOTES.

TUCKER CARLSON: HOW, FOR

EXAMPLE, DID SENILE HERMIT JOE

BIDEN GET 15 MILLION MORE VOTES

THAN HIS FORMER BOSS, ROCK STAR,

CROWD SURFER BARACK OBAMA?

GEOFF: THE COURT FILING REVEALS

THAT BEHIND THE SCENES MANY OF

THE NETWORK'S TOP STARS AND

EXECUTIVES DERIDED TRUMP'S

ELECTION LIES AS MIND-BLOWINGLY

NUTS, AND TOTALLY OFF THE RAILS,

EVEN AS THEY CRITICIZED

COLLEAGUES FOR POINTING THAT OUT

ON TV.

THE FILING IS PART OF AN ONGOING

DEFAMATION LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST

THE NETWORK BY DOMINION VOTING

SYSTEMS.

JOINING ME NOW IS DAVID

FOLKENFLIK, WHO COVERS MEDIA FOR

NPR.

DAVID, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US.

FIRST, EXPLAIN HOW WE LEARNED

ABOUT THESE TEXT MESSAGES,

XAVIER BECERRA PART OF THIS

NEARLY -- HOW THEY ARE PART OF

THIS NEARLY $2 BILLION

DEFAMATION LAWSUIT AGAINST FOX.

DAVID: IT IS A BLOCKBUSTER CASE

FILED BY DOMINION SERVICES, A

COMPANY AT THE CORE OF A LOT OF

THESE CLAIMS OF FRAUD VENTILATED

BY FOX NEWS IN THE WAKE OF THE

NOVEMBER 2020 ELECTIONS.

WE HAVE THIS VOLUMINOUS FILING

FROM DOMINION THAT APPEARED

LAST NIGHT.

TRYING TO CONVINCE THE JUDGE

EVEN BEFORE THE TRIAL PORTION,

HE SHOULD DECIDE THE CASE IN

THEIR FAVOR.

I DON'T THINK THERE'S ANY

EXPECTATION THAT SHOULD HAPPEN,

BUT THEY HAVE COMPELLED AN

ALMOST ENCYCLOPEDIC RECORD OF

WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN REAL-TIME,

DRAWING ON TEXT MESSAGES AND

EMAILS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS

AS WELL AS SWORN DEPOSITIONS IN

WHICH FOX STARS, EXECUTIVES AND

JOURNALISTS WERE FORCED TO

ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT THEY THOUGHT

ABOUT THINGS UNDER QUESTIONING

FROM DOMINION'S LAWYERS.

IT IS A BRUTAL PORTRAIT WE HAVE

SEEN ABOUT THE CYNICISM, THE

SENSE OF CRISIS AND THE FEAR AND

ANGER GENERATED INSIDE FOX IN

REACTION TO THEIR AUDIENCES

RECOILING FROM THE NETWORK'S OWN

CALL OF ARIZONA FOR JOE BIDEN ON

ELECTION NIGHT.

THE FIRST OF ANY MAJOR NETWORK

TO DO SO.

GEOFF: WHAT BECOMES CLEAR

READING THROUGH THIS FILING IS

FOX KNOWINGLY PEDDLED ELECTION

LIES FOR RATINGS.

THERE IS A TEXT IN PARTICULAR

FROM TUCKER CARLSEN SUGGESTING

THAT A FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE

CORRESPONDENT SHOULD BE FIRED

FOR FACT CHECKING A TRUMP CLAIM

ABOUT THE ELECTION.

HE SAYS PLEASE GET HER FIRED.

I'M ACTUALLY SHOCKED, IT NEEDS

TO BE STOPPED LIKE TONIGHT, IT

IS MEASURABLY HURTING THE

COMPANY, THE STOCK PRICE IS

DOWN, NOT A JOKE.

HOW CONCERNED WAS FOX ABOUT

LOSING VIEWERS TO THE RIGHT WING

RIVALS?

DAVID: IT WAS FEVERISHLY ANXIOUS

ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND RAISED

FEARS IN SIGHT VITRIOL, ANGER,

AND YOU SEE THAT IN THE PRIVATE

MESSAGE BETWEEN TUCKER CARLSEN

AND I BELIEVE SEAN HANNITY.

YOU SAW THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

SUZANNE SCOTT LASHING OUT AT

THEIR WASHINGTON MANAGING

EDITOR, SENIOR EXECUTIVE OVER

POLITICAL NEWS FOR THE NETWORK

BECAUSE HE TOOK PART IN FOX

NEWS'S CALL OF ARIZONA FOR JOE

BIDEN, WHICH WAS WHAT ITS

AUDIENCES DID NOT WANT TO HEAR.

PEOPLE TALKED INTERNALLY ABOUT

BREAKING CREDIBILITY AND TRUST

BETWEEN FOX NEWS AND ITS

VIEWERSHIP BUILT UP OVER PONY

FIVE YEARS.

-- OVER 25 YEARS.

YOU DON'T HEAR THEM TALKING

ABOUT HOW CREDIT ABILITY AND

TRUST CAN BE BROKEN BY NOT

STICKING TO THE FACTS AND YET

FOX NEWS TIME AGAIN BROUGHT ON

PEOPLE, INCLUDING THAN PRESIDENT

TRUMP BUT ALSO HIS SURROGATES

LIKE SIDNEY POWELL, RUDY

GIULIANI AND OTHERS, TO MAKE

CLAIMS THAT THEY WERE MOCKING

AND DENIGRATING AND TRASHING

BEHIND THE AIR TO ONE ANOTHER.

THEY KNEW IT WAS FALSE BUT THEY

WERE TRYING TO REBUILD THAT

TRUST IN A HURRY AS MILLIONS OF

VIEWERS FLED FOX, OFTEN FOR A

MORE CONSERVATIVE, SMALLER

RIVAL.

GEOFF: YOU MENTIONED SIDNEY

POWELL, SEAN HANNITY SAID IN A

DEPOSITION, "THE WHOLE NARRATIVE

SIDNEY POWELL WAS PUSHING, I DID

NOT BELIEVE IT FOR ONE SECOND."

HOW HAS FOX NEWS RESPONDED TO

ALL OF THIS AND WHAT IF ANYTHING

DOES IT DO TO THEIR BRAND?

DAVID: FOX WILL SAY THAT THEY

WERE REPORTING NEWSWORTHY

ALLEGATIONS FROM INHERENTLY

NEWSWORTHY PEOPLE ABOUT

INHERENTLY NEWSWORTHY EVENTS,

NATIONAL ELECTIONS, AND

ALLEGATIONS BY A SITTING

PRESIDENT.

COULD THERE BE A MORE NEWSWORTHY

PERSON?

THEY WILL SAY FOX NEWS IS

STANDING IN FOR THE PRESS WRIT

LARGE AND THERE HAS TO BE ROBUST

ROOM FOR HYPERBOLE AND

OVERSTATEMENTS AND MISSTATEMENTS

WHEN WE ARE TALKING ABOUT

IMPORTANT ISSUES OF NATIONAL

UNCLE -- NATIONAL CONCERN.

OTHERWISE THERE ISN'T FREE

SPEECH.

GEOFF: YOU'VE COVERED FOX NEWS

FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS.

WHAT STOOD OUT TO THE MOST FROM

THIS REVELATION?

DAVID: IT'S THE MOST VISCERAL

AND TANGIBLE PROOF OF ONE OF THE

STRONGEST CRITICISMS OF FOX, IT

FUNCTIONS IN MANY WAYS AS A

POLITICAL OPERATION AND A

BUSINESS IMPROVISE -- IS THIS

ENTERPRISE AND WRAPPED ITSELF IN

NEWS, EVEN WITH A CADRE OF

JOURNALISTS WHO MANY OF THEM

BELIEVE IN REPORTING STRAIGHT.

I THINK YOU SEE THE LIABILITY OF

THAT.

AND THE CYNICISM AND ANTAGONISM

TO THE IDEA OF BEING HELD

RESPONSIBLE, THAT THEY BEHAVE

RESPONSIBLY OR THEY HAVE ANY

OBLIGATION TO THE FACTS.

THAT'S USUALLY WHERE PEOPLE FIND

CREDIBILITY AND TRUST.

IN THIS CASE, THEY SAW IT ONLY

IN TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT

TO HEAR.

GEOFF: DAVID, THANKS AGAIN FOR

YOUR TIME.

DAVID: YOU BET.

♪