Already hit by a $787.5 million settlement from Dominion Voting Systems, Fox executives are currently in the crosshairs of the lawyers from Smartmatic subpoenaed four of the network’s corporate board members as part of its $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit, the Washington Post reports.
Smartmatic already received emails and text messages from the four–Anne Dias, Jacques Nasser, Chase Carey and Roland A. Hernandez–who had regular discussions with Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who oversees the network’s operations. “The Board members witnessed Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s control of Fox News; exchanged relevant emails that Smartmatic has used in depositions and will mark as trial exhibits; attended meetings during and after Fox News broadcast the defamatory publications; and discussed the 2020 election and the competitive threats Fox News faced to its brand,” Smartmatic’s lawyers wrote in an earlier filing.
Dias’s statements were used during the Dominion trial to demonstrate that the company, its executives and its board members were aware that the misinformation they were airing had detrimental effects on the nation. After the January 6th Republican-led domestic terrorists attack on Congress, Dias repeated implored the Murdochs to abandon Trump and stand for the rule of law. “It is an existential moment for the nation … and for Fox News as a brand,” Dias wrote in a January 2021 email. “I do not believe that the company can stay silent on this matter.”