Lawyer For Fox Reporter Whose Story Was Killed Nudges Congress To Subpoena Client

Nancy Erika Smith
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

During an interview with MSBNC’s Ari Melber on Monday evening, the lawyer for a Fox News reporter, whose story on the Stormy Daniels hush payments was spiked during the 2016 election, revealed that her client was under a non-disclosure agreement with Fox, which could be lifted by a congressional subpoena.

“(Fox) denies it but this is really easy, maybe Congress should subpoena my client and all of her records. And then we will see exactly what Fox News had,” Nancy Erika Smith said of her client, Diana Falzone. Smith is a leading civil rights lawyer and also represented former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson in her sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes.

Falzone was working on the hush money story during the election, but it was reportedly killed by an editor who told her that Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch wanted President Trump to win the election, according to an explosive New Yorker report published last week.

“Have you or your client been contacted by, say House Judiciary or Oversight?” Melber asked.

“Not yet, but a subpoena will trump an NDA,” she said. “It would add to the investigation into whether Fox is really a news organization or if it is a campaign arm of Donald Trump or whether just killing this story was an illegal campaign contribution, worth, what? Obviously they thought it was worth something.”

A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately return TPM’s request for comment.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Go Girls - and tell Trump to f*ck off .

  2. Amos 5:24 (NRSV) But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

  3. This may snowball.

  4. Do. It.

    No Mercy.

  5. Rupert Murdoch apologizing under oath in public in front of a congressional committee.
    Challenging day for the Fox news editor.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

37 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for bobatkinson Avatar for wordtoyamamma Avatar for bojimbo26 Avatar for commiedearest Avatar for dont Avatar for sniffit Avatar for lastroth Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for bboerner Avatar for georgemilquetoast Avatar for jonney_5 Avatar for edhedh Avatar for 1american Avatar for rickjones Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for michaelryerson Avatar for jills Avatar for spin Avatar for 10c Avatar for snafubar Avatar for haddockbranzini Avatar for hardyweinberg Avatar for emiliano4

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: