Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis has sanctioned Fox News after the network failed to disclose recordings of a conversation between host Maria Bartiromo and Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, lawyers for former President Donald Trump.
According to a report from The New York Times, Dominion Voting Systems was only made aware of the recording a week ago. The reported conversation shows that Giuliani claims that “I can’t prove that” Dominion’s software altered votes as he previously claimed.
Powell asked Bartiromo if on-screen graphics could help push potential donors to a fundraising campaign to help Trump’s legal team, which producer Abby Grossberg — the fired Fox News producer who claimed the network pressured her into providing false testimony in her deposition — said the network couldn’t do.
“I am very concerned… that there have been misrepresentations to the court. This is very serious,” Davis said.
The judge also ruled that a special master would investigate Fox for its “handling of discovery of documents and the question of whether Fox had inappropriately withheld details about Rupert Murdoch’s role as a corporate officer of Fox News”.
Murdoch’s role at the network has been a sticking point in the pre-trial process. Fox disclosed that Murdoch is the “executive chair” of the network, which drew the ire of the judge.
The network alleges that Murdoch has been listed as the executive chair of the company in all of its SEC filings since 2019.
