Fox’s Murdoch admits Trump ‘purged rage’: Dominion lawsuit

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In the weeks after the November 2020 election, Rupert Murdoch, the powerful chairman of Fox Corp., became concerned that Donald Trump, the president he supported, was becoming increasingly insane.

He talked about the pollsters who worked for him at Fox News. I don’t like the Decision Desk of our people! he wrote in an email as the network’s analysis-driven unit prepared to declare that Joe Biden had won the election.

He worries that some ideas Trump’s allies have proposed to convince state legislatures to reject Biden’s victories in key swing states look ridiculous and could lead to riots that never happened.

Murdoch’s astonishing assessments are found in thousands of pages of internal Fox documents, as well as text messages and emails exchanged between the network’s top executives and news hosts, which made public Tuesday as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox.

The voting machine company argues that Fox defamed the company by airing lies that claimed Dominion machines were used to help Biden defeat Trump. Fox said it was covering Trump’s newsworthy statements, not endorsing them, and accused Dominion of distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to discredit FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press. The case is scheduled to go to trial in Delaware next month.

A new legal filing from Dominion Voting Systems reveals Fox News anchors pushed lies about the 2020 election, even as they privately doubted their validity. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

The documents provide a rare window into the inner thoughts of the Australian executive, long considered one of the most powerful figures in global media.

Then 89, Murdoch appears in documents as an exceptionally engaged and active figure on the network in the weeks after the 2020 election, not to mention a political junkie and full of daily news developments , big and small.

It’s a big story now, he wrote to Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott on Nov. 9, 2020, after Pfizer announced promising progress in developing a vaccine for the coronavirus. People will be hungry for every detail. How about two weeks ago!?

Horrible, he declared in early December 2020, after Axios reported that Trump was considering a grand finale rally to be held in Florida on Inauguration Day, to draw attention away from Biden while he was sworn in. Trump’s behavior, Murdoch wrote, makes it difficult for Fox to get past the issue of the election.

The most frequent recipients of Murdoch’s steady stream of missives include his son Lachlan, the CEO of Fox Corp., as well as Scott. But other emails went to a wide range of Murdoch friends, from the former editor of the New York Posts to the Australian owner of television stations in Afghanistan.

Unlike many of Fox’s viewers, Murdoch appeared to quickly realize in the days after the November vote that Trump had lost and found the president’s behavior increasingly troubling as Trump refused to accept that fact.

Trump would eventually agree, Murdoch incorrectly predicted in an email to Scott 13 days after the election.

Seven days later, Murdoch remained confident that Trump was disappearing from the political scene.

In another month Trump will be irrelevant and have a lot to say about Biden, Dems and appointments, he wrote to former Fox executive Preston Padden in Nov. 23, 2020.

But Murdoch appeared to be growing concerned about Trump’s behavior, writing to a friend that Trump was increasingly angry with his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who was encouraging and deceiving him.

Apparently not sleeping and bouncing off the wall! Murdoch added. Don’t know about Melania, but the kids are helpless.

Murdoch’s personal stances are in stark contrast to the messages broadcast nightly on Fox News’ popular opinion shows. Despite his views on Trump, Murdoch appears at times to worry that network news does not stand up to the mercurial president and risks angering his supporters. The ratings showed that viewers were leaving the network in favor of other outlets that fully embraced Trumps election lies.

(On last week’s Truth Social, Trump appeared to respond to emerging news from the Fox documents. Rupert Murdoch should apologize to his viewers and readers for his ridiculous defense of the 2020 Presidential Election. How many kinds of fraud and fraud does he have to do see? he wrote.)

In the emails, Murdoch comes across as a fully invested partisan warrior, with no pretense of balance in his political preferences. He is, for example, in contact with Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, sending emails to the main Trump adviser from his iPhone and signing them Rupert.

You know you spend less on tv than Biden, Murdoch wrote to Kushner six weeks before the election However, my people are telling me his [advertisements] is better at being creative than you.

Kushner responded the next day, assuring the media executive, There should be some new creative this week. I reviewed and like what [Im] seen

Your [advertisement] at 1 pm this Sunday, an improvement, Murdoch responded.

With the approach of Jan. 5, 2021, the Georgia Senate runoff sets up an election that will determine control of the US Senate and which comes against the backdrop of Trump’s continued attacks on the presidential election Murdoch said the network should focus in Georgia, helping in any way we can.

Documents show Murdoch had the Georgia races on his mind as he watched a news conference on Nov. 19 where Giuliani spoke about the election, while hair dye ran down the side of his face.

It’s really crazy. And damaging, he wrote in an email to News Corp.’s chief executive, Robert Thomson. Could even lead to a double whammy in Georgia.

In the end, the Democrats won both seats in the Senate, giving control of the chamber to their party. The next day, rioters attacked the US Capitol after being fed continuous false statements about the election.

The attack: The siege of the US Capitol on January 6 was not a spontaneous act or an isolated event

That event appears to have given Murdoch pause. Two days later, he emailed a former Fox executive: Fox News very busy pivoting We want to make Trump a non person.

Finally, on Jan. 21, 2021, the day after Biden takes office, Murdoch appears to be grappling with Fox’s role in the events of recent weeks.

Maybe Sean and Laura are too far apart, he wrote, a reference to two of Fox’s top prime-time stars, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.

It’s great for Sean to tell you he’s in despair about Trump, he continued, but what did he tell his audience?

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