According to a new filing in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit against Fox News, the network's hosts and producers privately shared misgivings and criticisms about former Republican President Donald Trump's falsehoods about election fraud even as the network continued to promote his claims.
The lawsuit revealed emails from multiple people at the network—including Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity—who criticized Trump's legal team, particularly the conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell and disgraced former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who spearheaded Trump's defense.
But Tucker Carlson, perhaps the network's biggest mouthpiece for lies about election integrity, cast doubt on Trump's claims in text messages to his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, referring to Trump as a "demonic force" and a "destroyer" in the aftermath of the Capitol riot.
In fact, Pfeiffer agreed with Carlson, responding that “many on ‘our side’ are being reckless demagogues right now" as Trump railed against Fox News for calling the state of Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden on Electon Night.
Carlson worried the network's decision would have an adverse impact, saying the team had "worked really hard to build what [they] have" and that it infuriated him to see "those f**kers... destroying our credibility."
And when Pfeiffer agreed with him, Carlson said Trump was good at “destroying things," adding:
"He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.”
Carlson later sent a text to Pfeiffer in which he suggested that Trump needed to concede “that there wasn’t enough fraud to change the outcome” of the 2020 election.
Carlson reserved especially harsh words for Sidney Powell and disparaged her in a separate message to Ingraham for “lying” about having evidence for election fraud, saying he "caught" her in an "insane" lie. Ingraham reiterated Carlson's concerns and called Powell "a complete nut" like Giuliani.
Perhaps most strikingly, Carlson responded to Ingraham with the following message:
“It’s unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people and they believe it.”
Despite all this, Carlson went on television many times to lend credence to Powell's claims about election fraud, at one point saying she had described “the single greatest crime in American history" even as he admitted, later during the same program, that Powell "never sent us any evidence, despite a lot of requests."
The news of Carlson's remarks—to say nothing of the others with whom he'd communicated—quickly took social media by storm.
\u201cWow.\n\n#FoxNews #tuckercarlson calls #DonaldTrump a \u201cdemonic force\u201d in a text.\n\nCarlson\u2019s view is that Trump is a man of bad character.\n\nHow will this play out?\n\nhttps://t.co/JZKO6ZUZs6\u201d— Mo Brooks (@Mo Brooks) 1676655716
\u201cText messages revealed from Fox News personalities in Dominion Case:\n\n- Trump is "a demonic force, a destroyer" - Tucker Carlson\n\n- Trump's election fraud allegations are "total bs," "insane," and "nonsense." - Dana Perino\n\nIn other words, Fox News knows Fox News is FAKE!\u201d— Brian Krassenstein (@Brian Krassenstein) 1676596110
\u201cNo big deal, just a bunch of text messages from Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity saying they knew the 2020 election was not stolen, while they platformed Trump\u2019s lies on Fox News and in several instances promoted them anyway.\u201d— Mondaire Jones (@Mondaire Jones) 1676598150
\u201cTucker Carlson and Sean Hannity discussed wanting a Fox News reporter fired after she pushed back on Trump's election lies:\nA new court filing in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit against Fox includes troves of text messages. \n\n- This lawsuit will bankrupt @FoxNews \ud83c\udf89\ud83e\udd73\u201d— Dr. Jeff Rabinowitz (VotedBlueIn2022) \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Dr. Jeff Rabinowitz (VotedBlueIn2022) \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1676640418
\u201cHow many times do FOX NEWS HOSTS need to tell Trumpers that even THE FOX NEWS HOSTS don't believe the lies they tell on TV. YOU LOST. Tucker described Trump as a "demonic force" HANNITY NEVER BELIEVE TRUMP WON. MAGAts...you have been CONNED\nhttps://t.co/Rcyt6GcY4v\u201d— Joewo01 (@Joewo01) 1676646967
\u201cIn court for the voting machine lawsuit against Fox, L. Ingram , Tucker Carlson and otbers had their texts read where they admitted that trump's election stolen and the fixed voting machines were all lies . I hope they all lose their shirts .\u201d— Terri Wilk (@Terri Wilk) 1676650408
\u201cThey all knew the Big Lie was a Complete Lie. From Rupert Murdoch to Tucker Carlson to Sean Hannity to Laura Ingraham...\nhttps://t.co/N9WR7IpsnX\u201d— @BowmanNancy@toad.social (@@BowmanNancy@toad.social) 1676643592
\u201cSo @TuckerCarlson DOES tell the truth sometimes. Just not on air. \nhttps://t.co/qb6Eekwo0w\u201d— kingRio (@kingRio) 1676661186
\u201c@TuckerCarlson wants to keep spreading lies all for the sake of Fox News being able to continue to make money. Apparently himself @seanhannity & #LauraIngram were all 3 in on it. They knew Trump winning was a lie and they promoted it anyway. Lots more text if you go look for them\u201d— Kenny StarMaker Bolin\u00ae\u2122 KING of Podcast (@Kenny StarMaker Bolin\u00ae\u2122 KING of Podcast) 1676660024
Throughout, Fox News continues to allege the statements Dominion has challenged in its lawsuit "are not actionable defamation because Fox News’ coverage and commentary are not only not defamatory, but also protected by the First Amendment and New York doctrines emanating from it.”
Dominion has filed several lawsuits against right-wing networks that disseminated false allegations that Dominion "rigged" its own machines to subvert the 2020 election result.
In a 2021 lawsuit, Dominion claimed that the far-right, pro-Trump One America News (OAN) presented a Long Island swing-set installer as an "expert mathematician" who claimed to uncover evidence of Dominion manipulating voter totals during the 2020 election to benefit Biden.
Dominion has also filed lawsuits against Giuliani, Powell, and MyPillow Inc. chief executive Mike Lindell, who claimed Dominion conspired with foreign powers to rig voting machines and mounted a three-day "Cyber Symposium" which crashed and burned when he failed to produce any evidence of fraud.
