New texts have been
released as part of Dominion's
$1.6 billion defamation lawsuit
against Fox News.
They show some of the
clearest indications yet
the people inside the network ha
doubts
and misgivings
about the election fraud laws
that were being openly touted
on the network.
A 2021
email reveals that the Fox Corpo
chairman, Rupert Murdoch,
conceded that two of his top pos
possibly, quote,
went too far
with the election denialism
after Trump's loss.
Though Murdoch himself
also once said,
according to these new text,
that he hoped Trump would win Ar
even after Fox's own decision de
which makes those election calls
was the first to call it
for President Biden.
Murdoch saying
at the time
he was still hoping for a Z
to prove them wrong.
CNN's Paula Reid joins us now.
Paula,
these texts are pretty incredibl
when you look through
what they show, what they were s
you know,
behind the scenes
compared to what we saw publicly
Exactly, Caitlin.
Quite the contrast.
And all of this
comes from these hundreds of pag
of previously unreleased documen
that we got last night.
But clearly,
some of the most damning revelat
in these documents
come from Fox Chairman Rupert Mu
You see here,
he is repeatedly
denying conspiracy theories
about Dominion voting systems
that his own network was promoti
New internal
communications from some of Fox
most prominent figures
show concerns and misgivings
some had about then-President
Donald Trump's claims of electio
and the company's
handling of the 2020 election re
according to court documents.
Host Tucker Carlson
texted a producer on January 4th
just two days before the Capitol
We are very,
very close
to being able to ignore Trump
most nights.
The conversation continues.
Referring to Trump, Carlson says
I hate him passionately.
I can't handle much more of this
The private communications
from Carlson are a sharp contras
to his public support
for the former president,
as seen on his program that nigh
The president, as you may have
heard, believes
the election was stolen from him
Georgia's secretary of state, wh
it is to oversee elections, disa
You can listen to the call yours
It's online
and you can make up your own min
about who's right on that questi
By the way, if you have time,
you ought to do that.
The text messages are part
of a trove of documents
and communications released Tues
from Dominion
Voting Systems, $1.6 billion
defamation lawsuit
against the right wing network.
Fox responding to the latest doc
release, in part saying
Dominion has been caught
red handed
using more distortions and misin
in their PR campaign to smear Fo
and trample on free speech
and freedom of the press.
Dominion saying in a statement,
the emails, texts
and deposition testimony
speak for themselves.
The communications reveal Fox Co
Chairman Rupert Murdoch was furi
Fox News
called the 2020 election for Bid
and wrote in an email to the for
New York Post editor
in chief
CNN declares and Fox coming in m
I hate our decision
desk people and pollsters
some of the same people, I think
just for the hell of it
still praying for Arizona
to prove them wrong.
Referring to Fox News,
his decision
to project Biden, the winner in
more than a month
after the 2020 election, Fox New
managing editor wrote
in a private message to a collea
he feared that the network's
coverage of Trump's election
fraud claims
were becoming
an existential crisis for the co
Murdoch conceded in an email to
CEO Suzanne Scott in January.
20, 21
that some of Fox's top
talent went too far in their cov
During his deposition, Murdoch a
Do you believe that Dominion
was engaged
in a massive
and coordinated effort to steal
presidential election?
Murdoch replied, No.
Dominion has made an effort to s
that Rupert Murdoch was hands on
is that he was aware
of what people were saying on hi
that he had the ability to stop
these guests from appearing
and repeating these things
that he apparently testified
he's never believed to be true.
Both sides of this
case have
asked a judge to resolve
this matter in their favor
without going to trial.
There's also a slim chance
this could settle.
But if none of that happens,
this will go to trial in Delawar
Next month,
and this will truly be a landmar
Absolutely. One to watch.
Certainly Polaroid.
Thank you.
Let's bring in now CNN's senior
media analyst and Axios media re
Sarah Fisher. Sara, good morning
Listen to this.
Text messages are between Tucker
Carlson and what he wrote about
Trump is amazing.
I'm just going to read
the entire text message
because I think it's important
and I don't want to dumb it down
because we are very, very close
to being able to ignore Trump.
Most nights, I truly can't wait.
I hate him passionately.
I blew up at Peter Navarro
today in frustration.
I actually like Peter,
but I can't handle much more of
That's the last for years.
We are pretending
that we've got a lot to show for
because admitting what a disaste
been too tough to digest.
But come on, this
there isn't really any upside to
That's pretty harsh.
That's not what he's saying on t
Definitely not.
And that's the point that that
where he's just making
what Dominion is trying to prove
is that Fox
News hosts
knowingly put stuff on the air
that they didn't actually believ
And this comes to show
that not only did Tucker
Carlson not believe Trump,
he didn't believe the election l
but that he's in real time
venting about it and frustrated
but then can completely pivot on
It's actually a very strong case
for Dominion.
And I thought the other piece of
that was brought out last night
that was brought up in the clip
that is a very strong case
for them
was Rupert
Murdoch conceding no Dominion di
to his knowledge,
mislead the public about the ele
That is a direct piece of Proofp
for Domain.
What does it say about Fox overa
Because, you know, a lot of this
and what was being said
publicly was the fact
that they were worried
about losing viewers
after the election and,
you know, Republicans in Washing
as well as I do.
There is a deep mistrust
at times of them.
And to see a lot of Republicans
coming out yesterday
being so
openly critical
of some of the hosts that before
they would never criticize
was remarkable.
Totally remarkable.
You know, I'm
kind of confused about this.
You know,
big fear around losing viewers
FOX of all the three
major cable news
networks, CNN, MSNBC,
and FOX has always had high rati
And so I don't think that they n
to pander to
election wise
to be able to manage their busin
I think that they went
completely off the wall there.
But I also think to your point
about Republicans,
they do need to book them.
They want to get them on their a
They want to get interviews with
They want to be able
to build them as exclusives.
And that's not just the far
right Republicans,
but it's also House Speaker
Kevin McCarthy.
It's also Senate
Mitch, Senator Mitch McConnell.
And so they have an incentive
critical yesterday.
Very critical yesterday
of a decision
by Tucker
Carlson to continue
to sort of release misleading
footage from those January
six tapes that McCarthy gave him
I think that Fox
is in a very precarious position
The one thing I will say, if we
though, a 30,000 foot view,
they're in a precarious position
about this lawsuit,
but their shareholders have not
come down on them.
It's not like Fox.
The stock is taking a huge beati
because of this.
At the end of the day,
they're going to be frustrated
if they lose 1.6 billion
or more to this defamation suit
when it could have gone towards
Sports rights to Fox Sports
like you just signed
Tom Brady for $375 million.
But it's not like the shareholde
are demanding
critical action at this moment.
It's just
the idea.
I know
that's a reality,
but that shareholders
really are the ones that kind of
or really have the strongest say
in what a news organization puts
there is just really sad.
Do we have time to listen to?
Because I think it was important
that you guys mentioned
what happened with Republicans y
Let's listen to what they said.
This was about January six.
And like Tucker Carlson said,
it was a mistake, in my view, fo
Fox News to depict this
in a way that's a completely at
with what our chief
law enforcement official.
Here are a couple of things to t
put that in the same category.
As you know,
permitted peaceful protest is
is just a lie.
I think it's both.
There were a lot of people in th
at the time who I think
weren't here for their lives.
So you can,
you know, everyone describe it.
But it was a
it was an attack on the Capitol.
I thought it was an insurrection
at that time.
I still think
it was an insurrection today.
The point is,
what happened that day
shouldn't have happened.
Hmm. And
shouldn't Fox News be listening
what is right
for journalism
that they should report to there
to the viewers
exactly what happened to the law
But then, as you said, sharehold
you know that reminder to us.
What do you make of that?
I mean, I know
for a fact that folks inside Fox
think that Trump is
something they want to get away
So I'm surprised that Tucker Car
is even doubling down on this
in this way,
because Republicans clearly
want to get away from Trump.
He caused them
the midterm last election,
and Fox News
really wants to get away from Tr
I think they would be
wise, to your point, to listen t
I don't know why they're not.
Well,
they have distanced themselves
from Trump, I think, since he an
his reelect.
It's come to great
frustration to the Trump campaig
The lawmakers are Fox I mean, Fo
Yeah.
But, you
know, pointing
January six in this light
is not distancing yourself from
It's actually the most intense t
you could do
to link yourself to Donald Trump
And so I just can't understand
their fathom why they would do i
To your point,
if every single one of these
Republican lawmakers,
both from the most
some of the most extreme ends
and some of the more moderate
and is just themselves.
Sarah Fisher, thank you very muc
Appreciate.