A rare display of journalistic prudence by Tucker Carlson may have just undercut Fox New’s efforts to dismiss Smartmatic’s multibillion-dollar defamation suit.
—Carlson said that evening that Powell “never demonstrated that a single actual vote was moved illegitimately by software from one candidate to another” and that she rejected his invitation to provide the proof on his show.
“Ironically, the statements of Tucker Carlson, perhaps the most popular Fox News host, militate most strongly in favor of a possible finding that there is a substantial basis that Fox News acted with actual malice,” Cohen wrote in his Tuesday ruling. After pointing out that Dobbs pushed Powell’s claims that Smarmatic’s software “allows [it] to manipulate votes” the same night as Carlson’s rejection of Powell, Cohen found fault with the network seemingly ignoring the warnings of its most-watched primetime star.
“However, Powell never provided the evidence requested by Carlson, and President Trump’s campaign advised Carlson that it knew of no such evidence,” he wrote. “Therefore, there are sufficient allegations that Fox News knew, or should have known, that Powell’s claim was false, and purposefully ignored the efforts of its most prominent anchor to obtain substantiation of claims of wrongdoing by [Smartmatic].
Cohen also pointed that Fox didn’t share with its hosts emails from Smartmatic asking Fox to correct false claims about the company as another potential act of actual malice. It was Carlson’s actions, though, that the judge felt “most strongly” exhibited possible actual malice on the network’s part.
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