With the $1.6 billion trial set to start next Monday, the judge overseeing the case between Fox and Dominion Voting System called Tuesday’s disclosure that Rupert Murdoch was an officer of the news division “bizarre, Reuters reports. “I’m not very happy right now,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said during a hearing Tuesday, telling Fox attorneys, “You have a credibility problem.”
Dominion’s lawyers reportedly learned when they got a letter from Fox with Murdoch listed as “Executive Chairman.” Fox lawyers claim a lawyer for Dominion noted Murdoch’s title with the propaganda division during depositions; at the time, Murdoch called the title an “honorific.”
However, Murdoch’s active role within the news division became apparent during the investigation, and his title demonstrates that he had authority over the news division, something he tried to downplay in depositions, Dominion lawyers claim. The plaintiff’s lawyers say the fact that Murdoch was an officer of “Fox News” and not just an officer of the umbrella corporation would have changed how they questioned him in depositions and what information they sought in discovery.