Bill Barr’s testimony could prove very damaging to Fox News’ claim that it was just covering the news when it repeatedly promoted the false narrative that Dominion Voting Systems rigged the 2020 election against Donald Trump.
Presumably, Barr’s testimony will not only highlight how false the Fox News narrative was but how the network either neglected to fact check the claims with the attorney general of the United States or else willfully ignored his findings. Fox has defended itself by claiming its “responsible journalists . . . covered both sides."
From ABC News:
At the first public hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Barr said in a clip played by the committee that the baseless allegations that Dominion machines switched votes from Joe Biden to Trump were "complete nonsense" and "amongst the most disturbing."
"I told them it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on it, and they were doing a great disservice to the country," Barr said of the Dominion conspiracy theories, which were consistently pushed by Trump and his allies. "I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations, but they were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing a lot of people."
It's not just Barr who has been subpoenaed.
More from ABC:
In addition to [Georgia Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger, subpoenas in the Dominion case were issued last week to Christopher Krebbs, the former director of the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who was fired by Trump in November 2020 after he stated there was no fraud in the election, and Benjamin Hovland, the former chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
This is no nuisance lawsuit. Dominion says that Fox has “deeply damaged” its business and is suing for $1.6 billion – with a “b.”
From The Guardian:
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a legal expert, thinks Dominion has a good case. “What’s particularly bad for Fox is [that] Dominion asked them to stop and correct the record in real time, and Fox persisted in spreading misrepresentations about the voting machine company,” she said.
Dominion also wants to obtain Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s emails, presumably to put them personally on the hook as well.
Meanwhile, there’s also the $2.7 billion (also with a “b”) defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting technology company about which Fox aired false claims of election fraud. In March, a judge denied Fox’s motion to dismiss the Smartmatic case and, in a delicious irony, cited comments from Tucker Carlson in his decision.
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of people.
(Barr image via screen grab)
