Mark Lennihan/AP
The much anticipated $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, widely viewed as one of the most consequential libel cases in decades, is officially over. On Tuesday, Dominion Voting Systems and the cable TV giant reached an eleventh-hour agreement. The details of the settlement are not yet public. News of the deal comes moments after a jury was selected in the trial.
Dominion had claimed reckless promotion of Donald Trump’s election lies caused the company to lose contracts and exposed vulnerable employees to vicious harassment campaigns.
Sparing the network weeks of public testimony by its top personalities and leadership, Fox News is likely to welcome the last-minute deal. But much of the reputational damage has already taken place. Numerous filings leading up to the trial revealed that some of Fox News’ most visible stars like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham had promoted Donald Trump’s election lies despite privately expressing significant doubt over them. In one bombshell filing that included text exchanges between Tucker Carlson and a colleague, Carlson even fumed over hating Trump “passionately.”
This is a breaking news development. We’ll update as more news becomes available.
