Abby Grossberg — a former Tucker Carlson producer who sued Fox News last week accusing the network of pressuring her into giving misleading testimony about their coverage of supposed election fraud — filed new allegations Monday morning, claiming coercive coaching by Fox lawyers, bias and unprofessional behavior by staff members and retaliation by the network, according to NBC News.
In the court filing in Delaware, NBC reported, Grossberg asked for an opportunity to correct a September deposition she gave in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit, saying it was tainted by pressure from Fox lawyers.
“Based on what I understood and took away from the deposition preparation sessions I had with Fox’s legal team which were coercive and intimidating, I felt that I had to do everything possible to avoid becoming the ‘star witness’ for Dominion or else I would be seriously jeopardizing my career at Fox News and would be subjected to worse terms and conditions of employment than male employees as I understood it,” Grossberg said in an unredacted errata sheet filed in Delaware, according to NBC.
Fox described the claims in a statement to TPM as “unmeritorious” and “riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”
Grossberg filed amended complaints in Delaware and New York on Monday, adding claims against Fox News for retaliation and discrimination. She also provided details about the alleged actions by Fox lawyers during her deposition prep.
The former producer said the network’s lawyers wanted her to downplay the importance of ratings in decision-making at Fox and that she felt “pressured to respond with a generic ‘I do not recall’ whenever she had the opportunity, even if she, in fact, did have a recollection, albeit perhaps not a perfect one,” according to the amended New York complaint.
“Indeed, several times during her deposition prep, one of the Fox News Attorneys would suggestively demur, ‘who really can recall anything after nearly two years?’, thereby tricking Ms. Grossberg into doubting her own faculties,” Grossberg’s amended New York complaint reads.
This, the complaint alleged, influenced her testimony by “fraudulently inducing her to deny facts she knew to exist.”
“I did not understand at the time, as I had not been made aware by Fox, that the statement ‘I don’t recall’ is potentially perjurious,” Grossberg said in her new Delaware filing, according to NBC. “I also understood and took away from my deposition preparation sessions with Fox’s legal team that I needed to keep my answers artificially general and if it got to any questions about details, try to dodge the question by saying ‘I don’t recall.’”
Grossberg sued Fox News in Delaware state court and New York federal court on March 20. Days after, Fox fired her, claiming she acted “contrary to express instructions of the Company” by disclosing allegedly privileged information in Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox.
Grossberg alleges her firing was retaliation for taking legal action against the network.
Grossberg’s attorneys told NBC News that her firing is the “latest act of thinly veiled retaliation.”
“We will pursue Fox News and protect Ms. Grossberg in any and every court necessary until her truth prevails and justice is done,” the attorneys told NBC.
Grossberg’s attorneys also submitted complaints to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New York City Commission on Human Rights, according to NBC News.
“Like most organizations, FOX News Media’s attorneys engage in privileged communications with our employees as necessary to provide legal advice. Last week, our attorneys advised Ms. Grossberg that, while she was free to file whatever legal claims she wished, she was in possession of our privileged information and was not authorized to disclose it publicly,” a Fox News spokesperson told TPM.
“We were clear that if she violated our instructions, Fox would take appropriate action including termination,” the statement continued. “Ms. Grossberg ignored these communications and chose to file her complaint without taking any steps to protect those portions containing Fox’s privileged information. We will continue to vigorously defend Fox against Ms. Grossberg’s unmeritorious legal claims, which are riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”
Read the New York amended complaint here:
