A trove of new text messages
and emails
revealing how Fox executives, hosts
and staff
really felt
about former President
Donald Trump and the 2020 election lies
he and his associates were pushing.
One host
writing that he hates Trump quote
passionately adding
There isn't really an upside to Trump.
This all comes
as part of Dominion
voting systems
$1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox.
CNN's Paula
Reid pored
through the wave of new court filings
and the new insight they give us into
what individuals
who work at Fox were truly thinking
New documents reveal more evidence
that Fox News stars
and top executives
believed Trump
and his allies were lying
about the 2020 election
Voter fraud is something that is real.
That just took place two weeks ago.
But amid falling
ratings, the network
continued to promote Trump and his lies.
The outcome of our presidential
election was seized
from the hands of voters,
according to court documents.
Host Tucker
Carlson texted a producer on January 4th.
20, 21
just two days before the Capitol attack.
We very, very close
to being able to ignore Trump.
Most nights I hate him passionately.
I can't handle much more of this.
Admitting what a disaster it's
been is too tough to digest.
But come on,
there isn't really an upside to Trump.
Those private remarks a total contrast
to Carlson's public support of Trump
that same night.
What happened
was the people in charge rigged the game.
Carlson's private messages
were released
as part of Dominion
Voting Systems,
$1.6 billion defamation lawsuit
against the right wing network.
The trove of documents
turned over in Discovery
reveal that doubts extended
all the way to the top
on January 21st 2021,
the first full day of President
Joe Biden's administration.
Fox Chairman
Rupert Murdoch
conceded in an email to Fox News's CEO
Suzanne Scott
that some of Fox's top
talent went too far.
Disturbing irregularities have been found
and must be investigated to the fullest.
Then during his deposition,
Murdoch was asked,
Do you believe that Dominion
was engaged
in a massive
and coordinated effort to steal the 2020
presidential election?
Murdoch replied, No.
Fox now
saying Dominion is Cherry-Picking emails
and documents to release
Dominion has been caught red
handed using more distortions
and misinformation
in their PR campaign to smear
Fox News
and trample on free speech
and freedom of the press.
But Dominion says the emails, text
and deposition testimony
speak for themselves.
The revelations, though,
didn't come as a surprise
to at least one Republican.
I'm not surprised that intelligent people
realize that what they were saying on
the air was untruthful, was lies.
And I'm just disappointed that they would
sell their
their personal integrity so cheaply.
We're expecting new evidence
to be released tonight.
Some of the documents already coming in.
We've begun to review those.
Jake, as you know,
both sides of this case
have already asked a judge
to resolve this in their favor
without going to trial.
There is, of course, also
a small chance that they could settle.
But right now,
this case is scheduled to go to trial
next month in Delaware.
It's expected to last around five weeks.
All right, Paula Reid, thanks so much.
With me to discuss,
CNN political commentator
Corey Sellers,
a former Democratic elected
official and former Trump White House
communications director Alyssa
Farah Griffin.
Bakari.
Here are some of the quotes from Tucker
Carlson revealed in the filings.
Tucker said, quote, We're very close
to being able to ignore Trump.
Most nights I truly can't wait.
I hate him passionately.
I blew it up, blew up at former
White House official Peter
Navarro today in frustration.
I actually like Peter,
but I can't handle much more of this.
That's the last four years.
We're all pretending.
We've got a lot to show for it
because admitting
what a disaster it's
been is too tough to digest.
But come on,
there isn't really an upside to Trump.
Now, hold on
one second, Bakari,
because I'm going to say something
that you might be surprised
This really isn't relevant
to whether or not Fox lied about
the elections.
Dominion is not suing Fox
for lying about Trump
and pretending they like Donald Trump.
Dominion is suing Fox for lying about
the elections and platforming liars
about the elections.
You're a lawyer.
Does this
not boost the Fox argument
that Dominion is in many of these
finally is just trying to embarrass them
or they are trying to embarrass him?
And I think that it is
you know, dominion trying to win,
not just in the court of law,
but in the court of public opinion.
And let me just
kind of reframe your statement
just a little bit,
because it's not just proving
that Fox News
lied about the 20, 20 elections,
but they willfully lied
about those 20, 20 elections.
And I think that some of these comments,
some of these text messages,
some of the things
that are coming out show
that not only did they know it was false,
not only did they despise this man,
but they did it anyway.
And when you look,
when you combine these things with some context
in Rupert Murdoch's context,
this was all about green.
This was all about money.
When you look at this
just from a viewer's perspective, though,
it shows you
that there's no difference really
then between, you know, Tucker
Carlson and, say, Hulk
Hogan or professional wrestler.
It looks like it's all entertainment
and it looks like it's all done for show.
And regardless
of those journalistic ethics or truth,
it does not matter
to certain host at Fox News.
And the problem is
that they're good people at Fox News
and good journalists at Fox News.
But Tucker just
doesn't want to be considered
one of those. So, Alissa,
again, Tucker is not being
sued for pretending
that he likes Donald Trump.
And you and I are not attorneys.
But I'm wondering,
as somebody who
worked in the Trump administration
and the Trump
administration obviously worked
hand in glove with Fox.
What's your reaction
to what I'm saying right now?
Like,
does this not look,
I mean, I hate those election lies
wherever they come from.
And certainly Fox
pushed them all and apparently willingly.
But
this isn't really part of the case here.
It's not. But I do think it matters.
It just shows how craven the lying
was, frankly,
and the motivations behind it.
I mean, Bakari mentioned
I think that the most damning thing
that's come out
is this Rupert Murdoch quote
where he says
it's not red or blue, it's green.
I'm not even sure that they
necessarily care
about which party they're boosting
or who they're boosting
so long as the ratings are there.
And here's the danger I talk about.
We live in Split-screen, America.
Half the country
is going to keep watching Fox
and they're not really going to know
that this lawsuit takes place.
They're not really going to know
that they've been actively
lied to by one of the most
watched man in cable news
about the election.
And any number of other things.
I do give credit to people like Bret Baer
and some reporters
who have at least covered
the story on the airwaves.
But it is
I mean, it is such it's
so indicative of just as this climate
that we're in politically,
where you can
kind of choose your own news,
you can choose your own facts.
And Fox has been boosting
some of the biggest liars
in their prime time.
I don't think Bret
Baer has covered the Dominion lawsuit.
I think he covered the fact January six
that McConnell was pushing back on
on the January six coverage.
But I don't think it's basic journalism.
And yeah,
I don't think anybody at Fox
or The New York Post
or any number of conservative outlets
have even covered the Dominion lawsuit,
which is just a
just a basic journalism story.
But Corey, we're also seeing let's
talk about Rupert Murdoch's deposition.
We're seeing more from that.
Murdoch was asked by Dominion lawyers,
do you believe that Dominion
was engaged
in a massive
and coordinated effort
to steal the 20, 20
presidential election?
Murdoch replied No.
Have you ever seen any credible evidence
to suggest
that Dominion was engaged
in a massive and coordinated effort
to steal the 2020 election?
No, Murdoch replied.
And this is more of the chairman of Fox
saying that he knew
stories and guests on Fox about Dominion
allegedly engaging in voter fraud
were not true.
You're an attorney.
Is this
case going to be a slam dunk
for Dominion?
It's a very it's not a slam dunk,
but it is going to be
something as more
and more of these depositions
come out where you're going to see Fox.
And I would not be surprised
if this actually did not make it to
a jury verdict.
Now, the trial may start,
but I can only see this particular case
with all of this,
somewhat of what appears
to be damning evidence.
We haven't seen all of it, but I can't
imagine this actually
going to a jury verdict.
But you look at this evidence
as it comes out,
you look at reaching that high bar.
It's still a very high bar to reach.
But these comments by Rupert Murdoch
and I agree with Alyssa,
this is the most
damning piece of evidence that comes out.
This is the CEO of this Fox
News conglomerate
knowing that the information
that they are putting out is false
and willingly
just or acquiescing to it
being disseminated.
That is a huge problem
for their lawyers to overcome.
I can only see their lawyers
saying, look,
we need to get out of this some way.
We need to find an off ramp.
What does that number
what does that settlement look like?
Let's have that conversation
and let's see if it can be done.
Yeah.
Listen, I want to get your reaction
to the fact that
while this story is breaking,
at the same time,
the speaker of the House,
Kevin McCarthy, gave Fox exclusive access
to more than 40000 hours
of capital security footage
of the January six attack.
And obviously, though, it
has been used on Fox
to try to paint the insurrection
as largely peaceful, largely on violent
with a bunch of sightseers.
Take a listen to how Republicans
are responding on the Hill
to how Fox portrayed this
It's a revisionist thing that I think
is unfair to the American people.
It wasn't a stroll through the Capitol.
It was a attack on our capital.
It was an outrageous act.
A lot of people were injured.
Our building was was severely damaged.
And efforts
to try to pretend that it was something
other than that
are despicable and frankly dangerous.
McCarthy had a huge hand in this.
Why would he do that?
Oh, it's just so irresponsible
and reckless.
But it's also the most
predictable outcome
so Tucker
Carlson got something
like 40000 hours of footage
and he decided to air
just random bits to suggest,
of course, that it was peaceful,
not going, you know,
not airing
the footage that shows
people like my friend
Officer Fanone
being beaten
and people saying
use his weapon to kill him.
But this this again, this was a deal
that Kevin McCarthy had made
when he was trying
to get the speakership.
And what I think it does is it just
it undermines
everything in the moment
that this huge lawsuit is looming.
Tucker Carlson's
actually leaning into conspiracy.
He's not she's not shying away from it.
And I think it shows how untouchable
he feels at a network
that has just boosted conspiracies
left and right. Yeah.
By the way,
we're on day two of Speaker
McCarthy not getting back to me
and my four questions
about whether he agrees
with the conclusions on that FOX program.
Melissa Fair, Griffin.
Bakari Sellers, thanks so much.