As Fox News prepares to defend itself in a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, a new report claims the network ignored a request from host Bret Baier to debunk the myths and falsehoods around the 2020 presidential election.
According to a report from NPR’s David Folkenflik, Baier offered to host an hour-long special that would push back on claims made by former President Donald Trump and his legal team.
The report details Baier’s wish to deflate election conspiracies, with a claim that he first pitched the show in late November 2020, and continued to advocate for the idea until January of that year. However, according to a Fox News source quoted in the story, by the time network officials came around to the idea “We were transitioning to covering Biden’s first term. It was past the point of litigating this point any further.”
According to Folkenflik, Baier received internal pushback from fellow Fox News hosts for his assistance in bringing attention to false statements made by those in Trump’s inner circle.
Records show Baier called out tweets made by Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, among others, that featured inaccurate statements. “We have to prevent this stuff,” Baier messaged Fox News Washington Managing Editor Bill Sammon after the election. He was also reported to have called statements aired on Fox News about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election “bullshit” and “nothing concrete” while adding “There is NO evidence of fraud. None.”
Baier had questioned claims made in Tucker Carlson’s Patriot Purge documentary and went as far as to air those grievances with Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace, before ultimately reaching the desk of Lachlan Murdoch. He publicly admitted “there were concerns” about the documentary during an appearance on The Brian Kilmeade Show in November 2021.
Through a spokesperson, Baier declined comment for both NPR and this story.
