In a deposition for the $1.8 billion lawsuit against his network, Trump advisor and Fox host Sean Hannity testified, “I did not believe it for one second” when he was asked if he believed the claims made by guests on his program, the New York Times reports.

Hannity’s testimony matches that of other hosts, producers and executives with the network:  they knew the conspiracy theories about voting machines pitched on their programs by people like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were nonsensical but Fox aired them anyway without attempting to verify the claims.

Others who stated, under oath, that they did not believe the Dominion conspiracy theories:  white nationalist cheerleader Tucker Carlson and Fox puppetmaster Meade Cooper, who oversees prime-time programming and presumably has some control over content.

The release of depositions in the case, made during court filings to defeat a motion to dismiss by Rupert Murdoch’s network, shows the depth of the defamation case Dominion Voting Systems has against Fox.  Deposition after deposition, Dominions lawyers told the court, show that Fox employees knew the claims were false but aired them anyway.  That reckless disregard for the truth is a cornerstone of Dominion’s defamation suit.

Also demonstrating the fact that Fox executives knew the claims against Dominion was false:  Dominion lawyers found out an unnamed employee of Fox Corporation, the network’s parent company, tried to reach out to the Trump White House to get them to reign in Powell, calling her claims “outlandish.”  The fact that the person was able to communicate with White House staff and was important enough to mention to the court signals someone senior and possibly someone named Murdoch made the call.