Speaking with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, House representative Adam Schiff called for advertisers to rethink putting their dollars behind Fox News and other “stations that deliberately put out lies and deliberately undermine our elections.”
“Since there is nothing but the profit motive operating here,” he said, “the only way to attack is to attack the profit.”
The Democratic rep from California stopped by “The Last Word” Monday to discuss, among many things, Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against FNC for defamation and the recent news that Fox corporate chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged top Fox News hosts “endorsed” what they knew to be a false narrative on-air.
“We see the Fox executives, including the very top executive, understood that they were lying to the American people and what a destructive impact it was having on our elections, on the confidence of our elections, and they did nothing to stop it,” Schiff said. “Indeed, they affirmatively allowed it to go on because they were worried about losing ratings.”
Schiff called Fox News and all those that work there “shameful” for their behavior. “For Fox, it’s all about the money — this underscores just how important this litigation is,” he said of Dominion’s lawsuit. “If they don’t care about anything but the money, then the way to go after them is what Dominion is doing, which shows they have actual malice and they are deliberately putting forward lies that is injuring people. The injury to Dominion is very clear, but the injury to the country is equally devastating.”
The congressman continued: “I hope that Dominion is successful and that others, whether it is regarding the lies about the pandemic that literally put people’s lives at risk, also have litigation around that or others. Since there is nothing but the profit motive operating here, the only way to attack is to attack the profit. The other thing I would add to that is folks that continue to advertise on stations that deliberately put out lies and deliberately undermine our elections. They become culpable in this, too.”
