…The judge in the case, New York Supreme Court Judge David B. Cohen, is likely to issue his ruling on both parties’ motions for summary judgment in the coming months. A trial could begin in early 2026.
#law #Trump #propaganda #BigLie #JeaninePirro #QuidProQuo #bribery #USattorney #FoxNews #StateMedia #Smartmatic #journalism #FourthEstate #dictatorship #authoritarianism
“There’s an audience uprising vs. Fox like I’ve never seen,” #JesseWatters said in a text to a producer.
Watters’ producer, Megan Albano, told him the day after the 2020 election that if #Fox called the election for #Biden, “you cannot, under any circumstances, cast doubt” on it because “the powers that be are not having any of it.”
The same day, Watters texted #FoxNews host #PeteHegseth, who is now #defense secy: “By the way, did you get the memo about not saying fraud?”
#FoxNews anchor #BretBaier, acc/to the filing, notified #Fox News exec Jay Wallace that #MariaBartiromo was making false claims about the election. “None of that is true as far as we can tell,” he wrote. “We need to fact-check this crap.”
The filing, like the motions made by #Dominion in 2023, showed that many Fox hosts were concerned about audience backlash after Fox was the first network to call the state of Arizona for #Biden on election night 2020.
In a message sent via…Signal & cited in the document, #MariaBartiromo told #SidneyPowell, “Sidney we must keep you out there.” Referring to then-#Fox host #LouDobbs, she added, “Dobbs is considered very opinionated. I am news”[😂]. She then told Powell, “I am very worried … Please please overturn this. Bring the evidence. I know you can.” (Bartiromo also told #RudyGiuliani, who was part of #Trump’s *legal* team, “I want you to overturn this.”)
The filing also includes newly public comments made by other #Fox hosts….
In a Dec 2020 message w/ #FoxNews host #GregGutfeld, #JesseWatters nodded to the potential upside of aligning w/ those claiming the election was stolen. “Think about how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went ALL in on STOP THE STEAL.”But he #testified in a #deposition that he saw “no evidence that #Smartmatic Technology switched votes in the 2020 Election in the United States.”
“I believe that there’s been no showing that Smartmatic engaged in any problems,” #JeaninePirro said, acc/to filing, which also cited her as answering “I do” when asked by Smartmatic’s lawyers whether she believed #Biden was “legitimately elected.” (An email sent to a press account for Pirro’s office seeking comment was not returned)
#Fox NEVER corrected its coverage of #Smartmatic or acknowledged particular mistakes, Smartmatic noted.
…despite some internal concerns about Pirro’s commentary about the election, #FoxNews CEO #SuzanneScott told a network executive “we don’t want to censor” her show, acc/to the filing.
Still, acc/to #Smartmatic, #JeaninePirro acknowledged in a #deposition that the 2020 election WAS NOT STOLEN. She agreed that the election was “fair & free” & that Smartmatic, which provided #election #technology to Los Angeles County, did nothing wrong.
The Nov 7, 2020, edition of her show, “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” did not air, infuriating #JeaninePirro.
In a text message exchange with Hannity three days later, Pirro wrote: “I’M TIRED OF THE CENSORSHIP AND I’M EMBARRASSED BY HOW THEY CALLED THIS ELECTION.”
Pirro told Hannity that she made several demands of #Fox management after the Nov 7 show didn’t run as scheduled, leading to speculation that she was suspended from the network.
“Keep fighting,” #JeaninePirro told #SidneyPowell. #Fox settled a similar #defamation case brought by #Dominion for $787.5 million in 2023.
Pirro’s producer, Jerry Andrews, warned her directly to stay away from claims of election fraud as concerns spread internally about their veracity. “You should be very careful with this stuff & protect yourself given the ongoing calls for evidence that has not materialized,” he said.
#law #Trump #propaganda #BigLie #bribery #USattorney #journalism
…#Smartmatic argues in the suit that #JeaninePirro served as a conduit to #Trump associates who said the election was stolen, including the lawyer #SidneyPowell.
“It’s Jeanine P. Got a former CIA chief of station who knows [about] development of Dominion,” she wrote in a Nov. 10, 2020, text message to Powell, referring to another #voting #technology company that some #Fox hosts claimed was involved in a voting fraud scheme.
Nonilex