After being falsely accused of being an undercover agent who ignited the Capitol brawl, a Trump supporter sued Fox News and one of the network’s former hosts.
Ray Epps, who twice cast his ballot for the now-former President Donald Trump, filed a complaint, claiming that Fox News and its former anchor Tucker Carlson defamed him by spreading the “fantastical story” that he was a secret government agent who instigated the uprising on January 6.
The lawsuit, which was submitted on Wednesday in Delaware’s Superior Court, accuses Fox News of “creating and disseminating destructive conspiracy theories” in order to deflect responsibility for the 2021 assault from Trump and Republicans.
‘Just as Fox had focused on voting machine companies when falsely claiming a rigged election, Fox knew it needed a scapegoat for January 6th,’ states the complaint obtained by The New York Times.
‘It settled on Ray Epps and began promoting the lie that Epps was a federal agent who incited the attack on the Capitol.’
Carlson on his late-night show Tucker Carlson Tonight in July 2022 claimed without evidence that Epps was a ‘federal agent who helped stage-manage the insurrection’. The show also aired video footage of Epps urging fellow Trump fans to join him in breaching the US Capitol building.
Epps has said on 60 Minutes said that the conspiracy theory led to death threats against him and his wife Robyn and that they had to sell their business and home and move away from Arizona. He is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.
The Trump supporter’s lawsuit is the latest of numerous legal threats that have been lodged against Fox News.
Fox News and Carlson in April ‘agreed to part ways’ for nondisclosed reasons – less than a week after Fox News settled a lawsuit over its 2020 presidential election coverage.
The network agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems more than $787million and acknowledged that some of its reporting was incorrect, including segments that enabled some Trump allies to amplify false claims of election fraud.
Fox News announced on Monday that it is cutting ties with fiery anchor Tucker Carlson, the network’s most well-liked prime-time host and a prominent figure in the contemporary conservative movement known for his provocative remarks and conspiratorial language.
The network announced the stunning news days after it agreed to pay nearly $800 million to Dominion Voting Systems to avert a high-stakes defamation trial that had cast a shadow over the future of the network.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the company said in a short news release. “Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st.”
Carlson’s most recent broadcast did not feature any indication that he was preparing to leave the network. “We’ll be back on Monday,” he said cheerfully at the end of Friday’s episode.
Fox News did not specify why Carlson is leaving, and a spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email from NBC News requesting more information on his abrupt exit.
The network’s statement did not include any comment from Carlson. The network will rely on a rotation of interim hosts until it names a permanent anchor for the 8 p.m. ET programming block.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade anchored the 8 p.m. hour on Monday and opened the show with a brief statement addressing the elephant in the room: “As you probably have heard, Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. I wish Tucker the best.”
“I’m great friends with Tucker and always will be,” Kilmeade added. “But right now, it’s time for ‘Fox News Tonight,’ so let’s get started.”
Fox News has settled a defamation lawsuit from the voting machine company, Dominion, over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election.
In a last-minute settlement before trial, the network agreed to pay $787.5m (£634m) – about half of the $1.6bn initially sought by Dominion.
Dominion argued its business was harmed by Fox spreading false claims the vote had been rigged against Donald Trump.
The deal spares Fox executives such as Rupert Murdoch from having to testify.
The judge in the case is not required to give his approval for the agreement.
Fox said Tuesday’s settlement in one of the most anticipated defamation trials in recent US history reflected its “commitment to the highest journalistic standards”.
The Fox statement added without elaborating that the network “acknowledges the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false”.
Dominion chief executive John Poulos told a press conference the deal included Fox “admitting to telling lies, causing enormous damage to my company”.
Justin Nelson, a Dominion attorney, told reporters that “the truth matters”.
“Lies have consequences,” he added. “Over two years ago a torrent of lies swept Dominion and election officials across America into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories, causing grievous harm to Dominion and the country.”
Mr Nelson added that for “democracy to endure”, Americans must “share a commitment to facts”.
Opening arguments in the case had been due to start on Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement of a settlement came after an unexplained delay of several hours once jury selection had finished, prompting speculation that talks were under way behind the scenes.
On Monday, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced that the start of the trial would be delayed by 24 hours.
Although he gave no reason, US media reported that it was to give both sides an opportunity to reach a settlement.
On Tuesday morning, however, both sides appeared to be digging in for a lengthy trial.
Attorneys for Fox had repeatedly objected to the $1.6bn in damages sought by Colorado-based Dominion, characterising the figure as massively inflated.
The “real cost” of the case, Fox had argued, would be the “cherished” rights to freedom of speech and of the press enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Dominion’s lawsuit argued that the conservative network had sullied the electronic voting company’s reputation by airing falsehoods about the 2020 vote being stolen from former President Trump.
Mr Trump attacked the voting machine company after the ballot, falsely claiming that it rigged the election to favour winner Joe Biden.
The lawsuit said that the false claims were partly an effort to win over viewers who were angered by Fox’s decision on election night to – correctly – declare that Mr Trump’s then-challenger, Joe Biden, had won the crucial state of Arizona.
Two of the Fox executives responsible for the Arizona decision lost their jobs two months later.
Legal findings released ahead of the trial suggested that a number of Fox executives and journalists privately questioned and dismissed conspiracy claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, but still put them on air.Media caption,
‘Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion’ – CEO
Court documents show that Mr Murdoch referred to the claims about Dominion as “really crazy”, but failed to take any action.
In one series of text messages, top-rated host Tucker Carlson said some of the claims were “insane”. Another host, Sean Hannity, said privately he did not believe them “for one second”.
Fox has said the words were taken out of context.
Ahead of the trial, Judge Davis ruled that the claims against Dominion had already been proven false, emphasising that the falsehoods were “crystal clear”.
Despite the mammoth pay-out, some legal experts believe the settlement was overall a positive outcome for the network.
Syracuse University professor and First Amendment expert Roy Gutterman said: “Looking down the line at a six-week trial, this was going to be gruelling for everyone involved and likely embarrassing for Fox.
“But a verdict against Fox could have been even costlier, and had serious implications on subsequent rulings on the actual malice standard and the First Amendment itself.”
Had the defamation trial gone ahead, jurors would have been tasked with determining whether Fox News acted with “actual malice” by broadcasting claims it knew to be false.
Civil litigation attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel told the BBC that the settlement “speaks to the massive threat Fox saw from this litigation”.
“The reputational harm of having executives, including chairman Rupert Murdoch, and hosts take the stand seems to have moved the parties towards a resolution,” Ms Tuegel added.
Fox still faces a second, similar defamation lawsuit from another election technology firm, Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7bn.
Dominion still has litigation pending against two conservative news networks, OAN and Newsmax.
The company has also sued Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Mike Lindell.
