According to Mediate, CNN’s Jake Tapper struggled to get a clear answer from Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos regarding why Fox News hosts were not required to apologize on air as part of the $787.5 million defamation settlement.
Tapper showed his frustration with Fox News for not making their hosts tell the truth about the false claims made about Dominion and Smartmatic to their viewers. He suggested that Fox may have paid more to avoid embarrassment for big names like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. Poulos explained that apologies were not the focus of the defamation law but compensation for the damage caused.
“Why not force them to tell all those people, all those misled Americans — which polls indicate millions of them still believe this nonsense — why not force them to say, ‘We shouldn’t have done that. That was false’?” said Tapper.
Tapper pointed out that people still refuse to use Dominion’s software, and individuals associated with Donald Trump continue spreading lies about Dominion and Smartmatic. Dominion has six more lawsuits pending and intends to hold those accountable.
“The defamation part of the law is really not built around apologies,” Poulos answered. “It is built to compensate for damage. And I can tell you, we had a company-wide call yesterday, and the unanimous consent in our company is if we could all go back in time and have our company reputation back,” said Poulos.
Tapper read aloud Fox News’ acknowledgment that certain claims about Dominion were false, but he couldn’t help but laugh at their “commitment to the highest journalistic standards.” Despite Tapper’s frustration, he expressed sympathy for Dominion and their treatment by Fox News and the MAGA media ecosystem.
