Fox election texts are 'worst nightmare come to life' for network: legal expert
According to First Amendment scholar Jeff Kosseff, who teaches cybersecurity law at the United States Naval Academy, the brief from Dominion Voting Systems that contains private texts and emails between Fox News execs and on-air hosts is a "nightmare" for the network as it tries to stave off a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit.
Appearing on Above The Law's "Objections" podcast with host Adam Klasfeld, Kosseff said that after reading the legal brief, "My immediate reaction is this is just my worst nightmare come to life as a media defense lawyer.”
What he found stunning about it was the mass of admissions by network employees that they knew they were spreading lies about election fraud and that they still left a trail of texts and emails that are now coming back to haunt them.
Speaking with the host, Kosseff stated, "I’ve never seen anything like it before,” before admitting that the revelations, "can help Dominion meet the high bar of proving actual malice, the standard in defamation law established by the watershed precedent New York Times v. Sullivan."
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Kosseff continued to explain that Dominion's request for a "summary judgment" is both unusual and a sign they have the goods on Fox.
“Usually, it’s the defendant in a defamation case moving for summary judgment, saying there’s no issue of material fact,” he explained Klassfeld clarifying, "Dominion’s gambit suggests that they believe the evidence that they obtained is so airtight as to not require a trial. That may be optimistic on the voting machine company’s part — unlikely, but not out of the question."
Most stunning about the brief was the fact that the executives left a trail behind for Dominion attorneys to discover.
“When I would do newsroom trainings, I would tell editors and reporters or TV producers, ‘You know, it’s really best if you’re having concerns about coverage […] have the conversation in person or over the phone,” he explained. “Try not to do it via email.”
You can listen to the podcast here.