On Monday, the transcript from Rupert Murdoch’s deposition last month over the possibly apocalyptic lawsuit brought upon Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems was made public. They weren’t great — at least not for him and his company. For one thing, the media tycoon had to admit, under oath, that he did little to nothing to stop his hosts from knowingly spreading 2020 voter fraud nonsense.
Murdoch’s deposition also featured some dirt on some of his employees and other Republican figures. One was Sean Hannity, who has long tried to tow the line between staying buds with the guy who started all of Fox News’ worries — former president Donald Trump — and not getting his employers in even more trouble. Turns out Hannity wasn’t exactly the most forthright friend.
Among the private correspondences now made public are email between Murdoch and Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House. Ryan was concerned that a “high percentage of Americans” believed the 2020 election was stolen “because they got a diet of information telling them the election was stolen from what they believe were credible sources.”
Murdoch responded, “Thanks Paul. Wake-up call for Hannity, who has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers.”
Ryan replied that the “sooner we can put down the echoes of falsehoods from our side, the faster we can get onto principled loyal opposition. I truly hope our contributors, along with Tucker, Laura, and Sean get that and execute.”
In the wake of Trump’s loss in November 2020, Fox News often featured guests who floated deranged conspiracy theories about an allegedly stolen election. Thanks to the info dumps from the lawsuit, whose trial begins in April, we now know that many of those hosts thought it was all bunk, too.
(Via Mediaite)