The lawsuit against Fox shows a push to influence elections for top Republicans

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NEW YORK (AP) In May 2018, the nation’s top Republicans needed help. So they called the founder of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch.

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are trying to prevent West Virginia Republicans from nominating Don Blankenship, who was convicted of violating mine safety standards in a fatal accident at one of his mines of coal, to challenge the current state senator, Democrat Joe Manchin.

Both Trump and McConnell are seeking help to defeat the unelected former mine owner who has served time, Murdoch wrote to executives at Fox News, according to court records released this week. Anything during the day helps, but Sean (Hannity) and Laura (Ingraham) dumping him hard might save the day.

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Murdoch’s incitement, revealed in court documents that are part of a defamation lawsuit against a voting systems company, is an example of how Fox has become actively involved in politics rather than -just report or offer opinions about it. The revelations challenge the credibility of the most watched cable news network in the US at the start of a new election season in which Trump is once again the leading player, having declared his third run for the White House.

Blankenship, who lost the primary, said in an interview Wednesday that he felt the change immediately, with the network’s coverage becoming tighter in the final hours before the primary.

“They were so smart about the elections that they did their dumping the day before the election, so I didn’t have time to react,” said Blankenship, who filed a separate, unsuccessful libel suit against Fox.

On Wednesday, the network described Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit as a blatant attack on the First Amendment and said the company took statements out of context. According to Fox, that includes Murdoch’s recognition that he shared with Jared Kushner, the head of Trumps reelection campaign and the presidents son-in-law, an ad for Joe Bidens presidential campaign that will air on his network. Fox said the ad Murdoch forwarded to Kushner was already publicly available on YouTube and at least one television station.

Dominion has been caught again using more distortions and misinformation in its PR campaign to discredit Fox News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press, Fox said in a statement.

Fox has long been seen as a powerhouse in GOP politics with its large conservative fan base. But thousands of pages of documents released this week in a libel suit filed by Dominion show how the network has blurred the line between journalism and party politics. Dominion sued after it became the target of 2020 election conspiracy theories, often promoted on the Fox airwaves.

Murdoch also told executives at Fox News to promote the benefits of Trump’s 2017 tax cut legislation and give extra attention to Republican Senate hopefuls, the documents show. He wanted the network to drop Biden’s low-profile presidential campaign at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

Nicole Hemmer, a Vanderbilt University history professor and author of the book Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s, said the revelations in the lawsuit puncture the Foxs’ longstanding argument that there is a divide in between the news and opinion side of it.

The real revelation here is how big the fictitious division is, says Hemmer. Some who know Fox have argued that for a while, but now we have real evidence.

Hemmer cited text messages disclosed in court documents from early November 2020 sent by Fox’s chief political correspondent, Bret Baier, urging network executives to withdraw its right-of-night call of the election that President Joe Biden won in Arizona. Baier suggested bringing Arizona back in his column, referring to Trump.

In the days after the election, as Trump made increasingly wild allegations that fraud had cost him the White House, Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox Corp., text to Fox News chief executive officer Suzanne Scott who was alarmed about a Trump rally.

News people need to be careful how they cover this rally,” Lachlan Murdoch wrote, according to legal documents. “Right now some of the comments on the sidelines are slightly anti, and they shouldn’t be. The narrative should be this big celebration of the president. Etc.

Some of Fox’s politicking, such as star host Sean Hannity’s frequent conversations with Trump during his presidency, is well-known. But court papers show how Rupert Murdoch, the boss, also inserted himself into the action.

READ MORE: Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch says under oath 2020 election won’t be stolen, according to court filings

Murdoch emailed Scott in November 2017 and urged him to advance Trump’s tax cut proposal, which has passed the House and is about to be voted on in the Senate.

Once they pass this bill, we must tell our viewers over and over again what they will get, Murdoch wrote in an email, included in court records. Very good, I understand, for everything under $150k.

After the first presidential debate of 2020, a frightened Murdoch told Kushner that Trump should be more restrained in the next debate. (Trump canceled that event.)

“That was advice from a friend to a friend, Murdoch said in his deposition. It was not advice from the Fox Corporation or in my capacity at Fox.

Whats the difference? asked Dominion’s attorney, Justin A. Turner.

You keep asking me as the head of Fox, Murdoch said. Being a friend is a different role.

Murdoch’s email banter with Kushner led to the Biden ad exchange, according to court records. That exchange is now the subject of a complaint from the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America to the Federal Elections Commission, arguing that Fox made illegal contributions to the Trump campaign by providing it with information about Biden’s ad. Fox said that sharing public information cannot be considered a contribution.

Court records show that on September 25, 2020, Murdoch emailed Kushner that my people were telling me that Biden’s ads were better creatively than yours. Just passing it on.

That same month, Murdoch wondered in an email to Col Allan, the former editor of the Murdoch-owned New York Post, how could anyone vote for Biden? Allen responded that Bidens only hope was to stay in his basement and not face serious questions.

Just make sure Fox digs into these issues, Murdoch responded, according to court records. If the audience speaks the theme will spread.

Another prominent politician Murdoch describes as a friend is McConnell, whose wife Elaine Chao, then Trump’s transportation secretary, served on the Fox board. Murdoch said he would speak with the Senate Republican leader three or four times a year.

In a special 2017 Republican Senate primary in Alabama, Murdoch said in his deposition, he told his top executives that he, like McConnell, opposed Roy Moore, a controversial former chief justice of Alabama. Moore ultimately won the party’s nomination but lost the general election after he was reliably accused of sexual misconduct, including liaisons with teenagers when he was in his 30s. Moore has denied the allegations.

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Murdoch, in the deposition, also cited his personal friendship with an unnamed Senate candidate in his suggestion to Scott that the network pay more attention to Republicans in the close Senate race.

Days before the 2020 election, after Fox business anchor Lou Dobbs was critical of Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., Murdoch asked Scott that Hannity would pump up Graham, who faces a challenge from Democrat Jamie Harrison.

You probably know about the Lou Dobbs outburst against Lindsay Graham, Murdoch wrote on October 27, that the senator’s first name was misspelled in a copy of the message in court documents. Can Sean say something supportive? We can’t lose in the Senate if we can.

Scott replied that Graham was on Hannitys show the night before and he had plenty of time. He added, I responded to the Dobbs outburst.

Riccardi reports from Denver. Associated Press writers Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta, Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Gary Fields in Washington and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

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