The Delaware judge presiding over Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News pushed back after attorneys for the network tried to get Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch out of testifying at next month's trial.
Judge Eric Davis rebuffed the network's lawyers' claim that Murdoch is too infirm to travel, citing a letter he received claiming that 92-year-old Murdoch could not get to Delaware to testify because of COVID, NPR reports.
In a rare moment of frustration for the cool-headed judge, Davis advised Fox attorneys against making him "look like an idiot."
"I also have people telling me that he's done some things recently that [show] he's hardly infirm," Davis said, mentioning Murdoch's recent engagement and subsequent plans to travel to his homes in Los Angeles, Montana, New York and London.
Fox attorney Matthew Carter argued that Murdoch's testimony was unnecessary, citing his seven-hour deposition.
Davis said that he had the authority to compel Murdoch to testify regardless.
Throughout the hearing, attorneys debated whether the judge could compel lower-ranking Fox officials to appear in court, what topics could be discussed during trial, the types of exhibits attorneys could show and the amount of days of advance notice a witness could be given for their testimony, according to NPR.
"You guys are fighting over 24 hours?" Davis reportedly asked, addressing the latter question.
The discord expanded to the public disclosure of court documents as Dominion attorneys argued that Fox attempted to conceal information from the public and its attorneys objected to their exhibits being used in open courts. Fox's side rebutted by saying they had rejected Dominion's 1,000 extra exhibits so they would not have to waive their right to object in the future.
Tuesday's proceedings also revealed a bombshell email from Murdoch to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott on Jan. 20, 2021, cited in slides Dominion's legal team presented. In the email, made public on Wednesday, Murdoch writes that then-outgoing president Donald Trump's parroting of claims of election fraud in 2020 was "pretty much a crime" that led to the Jan 6. insurrection.
"Trump insisting on the election being stolen and convincing 25% of Americans was a huge disservice to the country. Pretty much a crime. Inevitable it blew up Jan 6th," Murdoch wrote. "Best we don't mention his name unless essential and certainly don't support him. We have to respect people of principle and if it comes to the Senate don't take sides. I know he is being over demonized, but he brought it on himself," he added.
The newly revealed messages follow February's release of texts between Fox News executives and hosts privately bashing the election lies they aired. The texts' authors – including host Tucker Carlson and his producer Alex Pffeifer – also expressed concern that fact-checking the false claims would hurt the network's "stock price" or anger former-president Trump.
"Sidney Powell is lying," Carlson told Pfeiffer after an interview with Powell, according to the filing, calling her a "f*cking bitch."
As the discussions in Tuesday's hearing continued, Davis reminded Fox's attorneys to "be careful," foreshadowing what may be a tense trial over Dominion's lawsuit next month.
"These documents once again demonstrate Dominion's continued reliance on cherry-picked quotes without context to generate headlines in order to distract from the facts of this case," a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement. "The foundational right to a free press is at stake and we will continue to fiercely advocate for the First Amendment in protecting the role of news organizations to cover the news."
The trial is scheduled to begin April 17.
