Just like in the Dominion defamation case, the Smartmatic litigation’s discovery process reveals admissions by Fox employees that they knew the election fraud claims made by Trump and his minions were false — along with other variations on the word “crazy.” This doesn’t do wonders for the defense. Via Mediaite:
Both sides have filed motions for summary judgment, seeking to convince the judge that the other side’s case is too flawed and should be thrown out ahead of trial. This latest motion was filed by Smartmatic’s legal team, led by Erik Connolly, and specifically opposes the motion for summary judgment filed by defendants Fox News Network, Fox Corporation, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and the estate of Lou Dobbs (who passed away in July 2024).
Pre-trial discovery in the Dominion litigation revealed a trove of documents in which Fox’s on-air personalities and top executives exchanged emails and text messages acknowledging Trump had lost the 2020 election, that his claims the election was stolen from him via fraud were unfounded, and lamenting the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. An additional set of documents with previously redacted comments was released in March 2023, and the case ended up settling the very morning trial was set to begin.
Here’s the good part:
Not a single Fox witness testified they believed Smartmatic helped rig the 2020 election. In fact, all admitted they do not believe it. And there is both direct and circumstantial evidence that Fox executives and showrunners doubted the veracity of Giuliani and Powell and their incredible claims. Fox whitewashes the record by omitting all mention of the words its employees actually used to describe the claims they put on air and their sources: “crazy,” “really crazy,” “fucking crazy,” “[t]ons of crazy,” “so fucking cray,” “bullshit,” “bs,” “bonkers,” “kooky,” “wacky,” “bananas,” “more than fantastical,” “comic book stuff,” “insane,” “INCORRECT,” “conspiracy theories,” “ridiculous conspiracy theories,” “a complete nut,” “a bit nuts,” “so nuts,” “totally nuts,” and “just MINDBLOWINGLY NUTS.”
