Top Fox News talent including Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Tucker Carlson are expected to sit for depositions next week in the $1.6 billion defamation suit being pursued against the top cable network by Dominion Voting Systems, The New York Times reported.
Jeanine Pirro, Steve Doocy and producers of Fox News shows have already given their testimony, according to The Times. Dobbs, who no longer works for the network, will be questioned in Delaware Superior Court on Tuesday; Hannity is due in court on Wednesday, and Carlson will go Friday.
“We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs,” a Fox News Media spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.
In March, Dominion Voting Systems filed its defamation case against Fox News over on-air claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, including allusions to “hacked” or compromised voting machines and other claims that were never substantiated.
Dominion charges that Fox made the tampering claims to capture viewers away from other right-wing news outlets. “The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” Dominion’s attorneys wrote in their legal filing.
First Amendment scholars say the case could set a pivotal legal precedent for defamation cases. The Times reported that in the coming weeks Dominion could be calling to top brass at Fox for deposition, all the way up to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, the father and son owners of Fox. Also expected to appear are Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox News President Jay Wallace.
Neither side has brought up the possibility of settlement out of court, according to the Times, as Dominion seems determined to pursue a jury verdict.
The judge overseeing the case allowed Dominion to broaden the suit in June to include the network’s parent company, Fox Corp., with would allow deposition of the Murdochs, the Times added. Fox then replaced its outside counsel with Dan Webb, considered one of the top trial attorneys in the country.
A spokesman for Fox Corp. has said that the First Amendment protected the company from the suit, and that any attempt by Dominion lawyers to put the Murdochs at the center of their case would be a “fruitless fishing expedition.”
