Top executives and news hosts at Fox News privately shared they did not buy into then-President Donald Trump’s allegations of 2020 election fraud, despite giving airtime to many of those same false claims, according to a court filing in Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against the news network.
"Privately, Fox's hosts and executives knew that Donald Trump lost the election and that he needed to concede," the filing reads. "But Fox viewers heard a different story — repeatedly."
Top Fox hosts didn't believe election fraud claims:
- Host Tucker Carlson said as early as Nov. 16, 2020, that Trump ally Sidney Powell was "lying" about election fraud, according to the filing. He texted an individual whose name was redacted that her claims, made without evidence, were "shockingly reckless."
- In a deposition, host Sean Hannity said of Powell’s election fraud narrative that he “did not believe it for one second,” according to the filing. But in the meantime, he told his audience that "it will be impossible to ever know the true, fair, accurate election results, that's a fact," the filing says.
- Host Laura Ingraham told Carlson that Powell is “a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with R