After Dominion Voting revealed on Thursday that some top Fox News network executives and hosts were privately appalled by the network booking guests touting baseless election-fraud theories after the 2020 election, “The View” host Sunny Hostin thinks Dominion has a good chance of winning their defamation case.
In a court filing, Dominion Voting provided texts, emails and other forms of communication between Fox News hosts, in which they called out some of the network’s recent guests for perpetuating unsupported claims that the 2020 election was electronically rigged against twice-impeached former President Donald Trump.
During “The View” on Friday, Hostin noted that cases like these –specifically, against major media corporations — are often lost, because the right to free speech is so wide sweeping. But, she said, the words of these hosts might be the nail in the coffin.
“Those are, I think, probably some of the most damning evidential texts that I’ve ever seen in my legal career,” Hostin said. “I think they could win.
She added that it’s often hard to prove “actual malice” — meaning the plaintiff must be proven to have known it was spreading harmful untruths — but that “those text messages prove actual malice.”
“I think they’re gonna lose this case,” Hostin said of Fox News.
In all, Dominion says Fox aired at least 20 defamatory statements, including “four categories of lies” that were broadcast across six different shows – and that “numerous” executives were involved. In its filing, Dominion Voting requested summary judgement on the defamation case, which would instantly declare the company victorious, and result in a $1.6 billion win.
“There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners,” Fox News said in a statement. “But the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan.”
You can see some examples of the messages revealed below:
“Sidney Powell is lying,” Tucker Carlson texted his producer Alex Pfeiffer on Nov. 16, less than two weeks after the election.
“Sidney Powell is a bit nuts. Sorry but she is,” Laura Ingraham texted to Carlson and Sean Hannity the day before.
