According to Dominion Voting Systems, which is seeking $1.6 billion from Fox in a defamation lawsuit, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott told staffers “we can’t give the crazies an inch”, after the network called Arizona for now-President Joe Biden during the 2020 Presidential election.
Fox News was the first network to call the state for Biden, which eventually propelled him to the Presidency.
A report from NPR details that Dominion’s lawyers claimed the company should receive the employment contracts of 13 Fox News executives, including Scott. A Delaware Superior Court Judge agreed.
Justin Nelson, Dominion’s lead attorney, claims Fox News executives tried to block Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo from featuring Trump attorneys Sidney Powel and Rudy Giuliani from appearing on network shows to repeat false claims that the election was stolen from Trump. Fox’s attorney did not dispute or refute either the claims made by Nelson.
An upcoming book, The Divider, claims Fox News anchor Bret Baier shared he was receiving “intense pressure” from the Trump campaign to reverse the network’s call that Biden had won Arizona. The book alleges Baier asked Fox News President Jay Wallace to retract the call, which he has denied.
In a statement given to Barrett News Media by a Fox News spokesperson, Baier said “The full context of the e-mail is not reported in this book. I never said the Trump campaign ‘was really pissed’ – that was from an external email that I referenced within my note. This was an email sent AFTER election night.
“In the immediate days following the election, the vote margins in Arizona narrowed significantly and I communicated these changes to our team along with what people on the ground were saying and predicting district by district. I wanted to analyze at what point (what vote margin) would we have to consider pulling the call for Biden. I also noted that I fully supported our decision desk’s call and would defend it on air.”
