Dominion Voting Systems CEO John Poulos is accusing Fox News of knowingly fueling fake MAGA conspiracy theories that claimed his voting tech firm hacked the 2020 election and stole it from ex-President Donald Trump.
Poulos, who is suing Fox and several of its top anchors for defamation in a $1.6 billion suit, asserted during a pre-taped “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday that the “easiest part” of his lawsuit is proving that the right-wing network knew it was spreading “lies” about Dominion.
“We told them. We told them in real time,” Poulos said. “Others told them. Government officials told them. Partisan government officials told them. People inside the Trump administration told them. Local election officials on both sides of the aisle told them.”
“This is not a matter of not knowing the truth,” he added. “They knew the truth.”
Lee Levine, a retired First Amendment lawyer whose old firm is representing Dominion in the Fox lawsuit, told “60 Minutes” that beginning on Nov. 12, 2020, Dominion sent information sheets “on a regular basis” to every Fox producer on every show that was hosting Sidney Powell and ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani – aka the loudest proponents of the Dominion conspiracy theories (besides Trump himself).
Poulos said he and his employees have been “put into danger” due to the lies Fox amplified, which sparked threats that have continued to this day, nearly two years after the election.
“This is something that continues to happen every single day for us,” he said. “Last Friday we had an office on lockdown.”
“We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs,” a Fox News Media spokesperson said in a statement to TPM.
I get the impression that Democrats will push back on RepubliQan lies even more than normal. Should be an interesting next two weeks. Bob Woodward pushing “Trump Tapes,” etc. Lots of “October Surprise” to fit into only 14 days!
Not even including that Donny Dotard is ready for a padded cell.
Wow, I guess there really is a violent crime wave in America!
(Of course, the real genius of this is that Fox figured out how to both create and flog it.)
Reminds me of business plans 101: Privatize the profits, socialize the costs…in other words, expropriate and liquidate public goods, while externalizing and socializing costs. Fox’s version targets Truth as the public good: Privatize truth, socialize lies for Fox and friends’ profits.
There is so much evil within the Republican Party. The country cannot continue as a developed country with this much unreasonable behavior.
It is time to reclaim reason, objectivity and civil behavior, even if there is less money in doing that.
In the long run, we will prosper.
This was an enlightening interview on 60 Minutes. trumpbots got their orders and sprung into action on day one. Poulus and his employees get death threats through the mail, by phone and on social media. But he’s calm, sure of his management of Dominion and is suing for billions, even from bit players like Sidney Powell.