Here’s What You Need To Know About The Dominion V. Fox News Trial That Starts This Week

What’s happened in the case so far?

During the discovery process, a cache of internal messages showing Fox executives, producers, and pundits privately disagreeing with Trump’s claims about how the 2020 election was fraudulent were made public. They showed that many within Fox News, including hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Tucker Carlson, seemed not to believe the false election claims, even though they pushed the allegations on their shows. 

One of the text conversations released from January 2021 was between Carlson and an unidentified colleague. “I hate him passionately,” Carlson said, speaking of Trump. “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait,” Carlson said in another text message. 

He also lamented the failures of the Trump presidency. “That’s the last four years. We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest,” Carlson wrote. “But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.” 

In a text from November 2020 from Carlson to Ingraham, Carlson criticized conservative lawyer Sidney Powell, who pushed the election fraud allegations. “Sidney Powell is lying, by the way. I caught her. It’s insane,” Carlson wrote. “It’s unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people and they believe it.”

Text messages also show Fox News hosts disparaging Trump’s attorneys. Carlson said Trump, along with lawyers Lin Wood and Powell, had “so discredited their own [voter fraud] case, and the rest of us to some extent, that it’s infuriating.”