Settling a $1.6 billion lawsuit for defamation by Fox News, Dominion Voting Machines won a record $787.5 million settlement, avoiding a lengthy trial that looked headed in Dominion’s direction. Fox News agreed to pay the whopping $787.5 million settlement without accepting blame, essentially walking away more cheaply that if the $1.6 billion suit went to trial. Trump’s claims of election fraud reported routinely after the Nov. 3, 2020 election prompted Dominion to file a defamation suit after Fox News hosts and pundits lent credibility to Trump’s election fraud claims without any tangible proof. Trump filed suits in several battleground states, including Arizona and Georgia, claiming election fraud, all of which rejected by the courts due to a lack of proof. Yet Fox News and Trump continued to claim election fraud, blaming Dominion for altering votes in its electronic counting machines.
Dominion collected plenty of convincing video evidence for prospective jurors proving Fox New hosts and pundits spent considerable airtime blaming Dominion for manipulating the electronic vote. When the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots occurred, Trump was blamed by the press for not stopping the rabble rousers who descended on the Capitol after Trump’s speech in the morning on the Ellipse. Whoever joined the mayhem Jan. 6, 2021, they were all called Trump supporters by Democrats and the press. Still under investigation by the Department of Justice, 54-year-old Special Counsel Jack Smith continues to investigate whether or not Trump planned-and-orchestrated what Democrats called an “insurrection.” Democrats Jan. 6 House Select Committee concluded that Trump planned-and-orchestrated the Jan. 6 riots, something not proven in evidence but all questioned by the DOJ
Fox’s $787.5 million settlement is the equivalent of a guilty verdict in court because no one pays a king’s ransom unless the evidence was clear-and-convincing to any civil jury. Trump, who’s running for the GOP nomination, has a real problem now because of the settlement, essentially confirming that his endless accusations of voter fraud were all fake. Democrats allege that Trump’s unending claims of voter fraud prompted the Jan. 6, 2023 riots. House Democrats led by 83-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) impeached Trump Jan. 11, 2021, claiming that Trump whipped up his Ellipse crowd to attack the Capitol. Eleven Democrat House impeachment managers led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) made their case to the U.S. Senate. On Feb. 13, 2021, Trump was acquitted in a Senate trial of “incitement of insurrection,” yet Democrats kept going.
Instead of letting the “incitement of insurrection” case die, Democrats decided to appoint a Jan. 6 House Committee to put Trump in double jeopardy, expressly forbidden by the Constitution. After a year-and-a-half, the Jan. 6 House Select Committee turned over recommendations to the DOJ to charge Trump with planning-and-orchestrating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Spending a year-and-half cherry picking evidence, the Jan. 6 Committee disbanded Jan. 1, 2023, after Republicans took over the House. House Select Committee members like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), swore on a stack of bibles Trump was guilty or ordering he Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Now that Fox News paid Dominion’s whopping settlement, Senate Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mis.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) all backed Trump’s claims of election fraud. Fox’s settlement with Dominion makes fools out of Trump’s backers, now feeling duped by Trump and Fox News.
Every time that Trump brings up voter fraud now exposes him as a con artist, continuing to make false claims to the public. Other GOP Senators and Representatives now look like fools reciting Trump’s talking points. Whether admitted to or not, no one can trust Trump, or Fox News for that matter, for his allegations of voter fraud. Heading into 2024, only Trump’s 25% base continues to back his candidacy for 2024, knowing they were all duped in 2020. After the Fox New settlement, any mention of voter fraud now looks like an egregious con job. All of Trump supporters, in and out of Congress, feel betrayed by Fox News, presenting what Trump calls “fake news” to its audience. Republican elections officials, up for reelection in 2024, all face voters’ questions of why they lied to the public about election fraud. Fox News settlement speaks volumes about fake news.
Nothing has harmed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid more than Fox News $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Machines. All Fox hosts and pundits preaching the choir must explain why they said the 2020 presidential election was riddled with voter fraud. Elected officials facing reelection also must explain to constituents why they pushed voter fraud when they had no facts to support it. Trump chances of winning GOP primaries just dropped like a rock after the Fox settlement. Fox Entertainment Chairman Rupert Murdoch admitted under sworn deposition that claims by his news network and guests of voter fraud were false. Murdoch had no choice but to get the Dominion defamation case behind him, knowing that going to trial would have been more costly. Trump backers at Fox News or in Congress must admit that they didn’t vet Trump claims of voter fraud.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
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