Murdoch: 2020 election ‘wasn’t stolen’

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has sworn that he believes the 2020 U.S. presidential election was free, fair and not robbed of him, according to court documents released Tuesday. .

The texts relate to a defamation lawsuit filed by a voting machine company against Fox News’ coverage of former President Donald Trump’s false voter fraud allegations.

Dominion Voting Systems lawyers asked Murdoch under oath last January, “Do you believe the 2020 presidential election was free and fair?

“Yes,” he replied, according to the transcript.

“The election was not stolen,” he added later.

The transcript and other documents released Tuesday add to previous revelations that paint a behind-the-scenes picture of doubt — or outright denial — of Trump’s voter fraud allegations, even though the network gave them time to discuss. antenna. In previously released excerpts from Murdoch’s interrogation, he acknowledged that he did not stop several Fox News analysts from pursuing unsubstantiated claims by Trump allies that the election was stolen, although he could have.

He admitted that some of the network’s hosts – Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity – sometimes supported the false claims.

Dominion has filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News, arguing the network was harming the company’s business by broadcasting false claims from Trump’s lawyers that Dominion traded votes in the 2020 election .

Fox says Dominion is fabricating its claims that it suffered business losses and that it chose and misinterpreted statements from Fox presenters and its executives to paint a picture of a media company that put the truth of aside to preserve it for your audience. .

“Dominion has been caught in the act of using further distortions and misinformation in its public relations campaign to smear Fox News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press,” the media company said in a statement. statement issued on Tuesday, complaining that “distorted and even misattributed statements at the highest levels of our company is completely unacceptable.”

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Associated Press writers Christina A. Cassidy, in Atlanta; Jonathan J. Cooper, in Phoenix; Gary Fields, in Washington, DC; and Nicholas Riccardi, Denver, contributed to this report.