Fox News hammered out a historic $787million settlement at the "last minute" with tense behind the scenes talks that stunned a packed courtroom.
Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems were expecting to go to trial against Rupert Murdoch's empire and had been preparing opening statements - before rumours of a sudden settlement began to swirl in the courthouse.
Proceedings dramatically ground to a halt for nearly three hours after the lunch break, in what was said to have felt like a mysterious, unexplained delay, right as what had been billed as the "defamation trial of the century" was on the brink of kicking off. Lawyers were standing around in court, checking their phones, talking together and waiting.
