The prospect of a fired Fox News producer’s secret recordings being played during trial helped push the conservative network to its $787.5 million settlement of a defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems Inc. over the broadcasting of false 2020 election-fraud claims, people familiar with the matter said.
Abby Grossberg, then a producer for Tucker Carlson’s show, filed a sex and religious discrimination suit last month in which she also alleged that she’d been coerced into giving false testimony during depositions by Dominion’s lawyers. She subsequently provided recordings she’d made on a phone to the voting-machine maker, brief excerpts of which were played during a pretrial hearing last week.
The unexpected development caused a major headache for Fox’s lawyers, said the people, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The defense feared Grossberg’s testimony — and her recordings — would be used by Dominion’s lawyers against Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other witnesses expected to be called to the stand during trial.
