Fox Corp chief told Sean Hannity that Trump could not go on air in 2020 if he attacked network | Fox News

New revelations about the tense relationship between Fox News and Donald Trump in the fall of 2020 were revealed in thousands of court documents released Sunday as part of a massive defamation lawsuit filed against the network by voting technology company Smartmatic.

In one post, Lachlan Murdoch, chief executive of Fox News’ parent company Fox Corp, was seen telling star anchor Sean Hannity in a text chain dated October 1, 2020, that he would never appear on Fox again if Trump attacked the network.

“Sean, I’m sorry, but if the president uses this to attack us, he won’t be back on the air,” Murdoch wrote to a group that included his father Rupert and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott. “This is the same rule we have with the other party. This is a golden rule,” he said, signing the message with “Thanks L”. (In an interview dated October 1, 2020 with Hannity, Trump told Fox “It was a very different place from before.”)

Hannity’s response to Murdoch’s message has been edited. The situation worsened following the 2020 presidential election, when many Fox News supporters, including Trump himself, turned against the network, leading to an existential crisis at the long-dominant channel.

In a separate thread after the November 2020 presidential election, after many Trump supporters were angry at Fox News for calling the state of Arizona for Joe Biden, Hannity acknowledged the president’s anger. “Trump people hate Fox,” he wrote to a producer. “Hate hate hate.”

While Fox publicly stood behind its Arizona call in the face of internal and external backlash, Lachlan Murdoch said Fox should consider withdrawing its call to the state of Arizona for Biden if its margin fell below 1% of the vote, according to a Nov. 6, 2020 email from Scott. “I’m not suggesting we do that right now,” Scott said.

The documents disclosed on Sunday are copies of evidence cited in previous applications between the parties. These include longer versions of previously cited conversations and many new internal text messages and email exchanges not previously made public.

In a previously unreported November 23, 2020 email to his son, Rupert Murdoch suggested they chat about viewers’ reaction to Fox News. “Getting killed in viewership,” he wrote. “All day long. We need to keep our nerve, but it’s worth discussing. It won’t hurt subscriber revenue, but it will be disrupted soon.” [advertisements].” Lachlan Murdoch wrote that he would call his father the next morning. “I agree with FNC,” he wrote. “It keeps me awake at night.”

In another previously unreported email to his son Lachlan, dated January 21, 2021, Rupert wrote that he was “still getting criticism about this.” [Fox News Channel]. He said prominent voices were promoting stolen election nonsense and encouraging the January 6 rally.” In the same thread, Murdoch talked about sacking business network host Lou Dobbs. “Take him off the air and see you later,” he wrote. Dobbs’ show was canceled the following month.

The elder Murdoch also talked about the hiring of former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile, saying it was “hard to attack a Black woman.”

The documents released on Sunday also included a version of Smartmatic’s testimony about Rupert Murdoch. Asked by a Smartmatic lawyer whether he had taken any steps “to ensure that Fox News Media hosts do not support claims that the 2020 election was stolen,” Rupert Murdoch replied: “No. No.”

“I am so happy [with] The way Fox News handled this,” Rupert Murdoch said of the network’s post-election coverage.

Rupert Murdoch also acknowledged that Fox News decided to “pivot” after the election, “moving away from our support for Trump.” But he said this was difficult to do. “Our very large audience was mainly Trump supporters,” he said. “We didn’t want to upset them completely. We’d done this before. They were attacking us.”

Murdoch also confirmed that he believed Trump’s claims that the election was stolen contributed to the US Capitol attack on January 6, but denied it was an “insurrection” and said it was “only intended to be a rally outside the Capitol.”

In his own statement, Lachlan Murdoch said he did not think Fox News had done anything to “confirm” claims of election fraud made by Trump’s supporters. It also reaffirmed the journalistic value of covering the president’s claims of election fraud. “I can’t imagine a more newsworthy story than the sitting president of the United States questioning the election results,” he said, according to a transcript of his testimony.

Lachlan Murdoch said: “We did not make allegations against Smartmatic. The President, his lawyers and associates made allegations against Smartmatic.” “We reported these allegations, which I believe are incredibly newsworthy. So we did not apologize for reporting the incumbent president’s allegations about the voting system.”

Smartmatic was indicted by the Department of Justice last month as part of a bribery investigation in the Philippines. The company denies the accusations and says the indictment is “targeted, political and unfair.”

Fox News vehemently denied Smartmatic’s claims and said the company greatly exaggerated its value.

“The evidence shows that Smartmatic’s business and reputation were badly damaged long before any allegations by President Trump’s lawyers at Fox News, and that Smartmatic greatly exaggerated its claims of damage to gain headlines and ensure free speech,” a Fox News spokesperson said. “Following Smartmatic’s indictment for bribery in the Philippines and the Government’s request to include evidence regarding Smartmatic’s business dealings in Venezuela and Los Angeles County, we are willing and ready to continue defending our press freedoms.”

Fox had petitioned the judge in the case to postpone the case so that the criminal case against Smartmatic could continue, but that effort was denied on Monday.

“Today’s decision is a significant victory for Smartmatic as we move forward in our efforts to hold Fox accountable for its lies,” a Smartmatic spokesperson said. “The court made clear that Fox’s attempts to delay accountability will not work and the day of reckoning has arrived.”

Both sides are tentatively scheduled to argue their cases for summary judgment next month.