Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump and the in-fighting at Fox News

A $1.6bn defamation suit against Fox News has pulled backmost the curtain connected the interior workings of the almighty blimpish cablegram web successful the days aft the 2020 US statesmanlike election.

Dominion Voting Systems, a voting-machine manufacturer, alleges that Fox knowingly aired mendacious allegations that their devices helped Joe Biden and the Democrats "steal" the election.

To marque their case, the institution has called dozens of Fox executives and journalists to attest successful depositions and subpoenaed thousands of pages of their substance messages and emails.

They amusement the often heated, and sometimes profane, conversations that took spot down closed doors arsenic Fox News, from president Rupert Murdoch connected down, grappled with Donald Trump's yet futile effort to overturn the 2020 predetermination results.

Fox News has had a analyzable narration with Mr Trump implicit the years. He clashed with the web regularly during the aboriginal days of his 2016 statesmanlike bid, but erstwhile helium won the White House the network's sum was mostly affirmative - peculiarly connected its evening sentiment shows hosted by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and others.

In the days aft his 2020 statesmanlike defeat, however, it's emerged that galore Fox executives and presenters disparaged him.

Mr Murdoch, the Fox News chairman, wrote successful an email that the then-US president - and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani - were going "increasingly mad" aft predetermination day.

Mr Carlson, big of the network's top-rated programme, said helium hated Mr Trump "passionately" and that his presidency had been a disaster. He predicted that soon his amusement would beryllium capable to disregard the soon-to-be erstwhile president.

He besides mocked the erstwhile president's concern enterprises. "All of them fail," helium said successful a substance to his show's producer.

It's the benignant of presumption echoed by Mr Trump's critics - galore of whom person often been the people of Mr Carlson's ire connected his evening programme.

The erstwhile president is known to instrumentality slights personally and is improbable to forget. It means the love-hate narration Mr Trump has with Fox News whitethorn beryllium veering backmost toward hatred conscionable arsenic the 2024 statesmanlike run heats up.

While Fox News presenters were giving Mr Trump and his supporters a level to question the legitimacy of the 2020 predetermination results, down the scenes galore connected the web were dismissing the validity of the allegations and lamenting however the web covered the story.

In November, Mr Murdoch told New York Post exertion Col Allan that fractional of what Mr Trump was saying aft the predetermination was some untrue and damaging.

It was a presumption echoed by others successful the network, including immoderate of the salient evening sentiment hosts who person been publically outspoken successful their enactment of Mr Trump. Mr Hannity, for instance, said successful a deposition helium did not judge the predetermination claims by Trump ineligible advisor Sidney Powell "for 1 second".

Mr Carlson, successful a substance connection to chap Fox evening hosts, wrote that her assertion that Dominion voting machines stole the predetermination "seems insane to me", adding that Ms Powell was "making everyone paranoid and crazy, including me".

These parallel opinions - captious successful private, tolerant oregon adjacent supportive successful nationalist - has opened Fox News up not lone to ineligible jeopardy, but besides to charges of hypocrisy.

Two years aft Mr Carlson's documented comments, during a programme that presented caller footage from the 6 January onslaught connected the US Capitol, helium claimed that "the 2020 predetermination was a sedate betrayal of American democracy" and that "no honorable idiosyncratic tin contradict it".

His claims astir 6 January prompted derision from the White House and outrage from immoderate legislature Republicans.

As Mr Trump's attempts to contention his predetermination decision continued, it became progressively wide to Fox News executives that disputing his assertions risked a backlash from loyal viewers.

"We can't marque radical deliberation we've turned against Trump," 1 Carlson shaper texted a colleague.

In particular, Dominion's filings show, Fox executives disquieted that sceptical sum of the president's predetermination claims would thrust blimpish viewers to different right-wing quality outlets, specified arsenic Newsmax.

Mr Carlson said Fox was "playing with fire".

"Do the executives recognize however overmuch credibility and spot we've mislaid with our audience?" helium asked successful a substance to a producer. "An alternate similar Newsmax could beryllium devastating to us."

According to Dominion's lawsuit, this was the fiscal information down the network's determination to proceed to aerial predetermination denialism that it knew to beryllium untrue.

"It's singular however anemic ratings marque bully journalists bash atrocious things," Fox managing exertion Bill Sammon wrote successful an email lamenting the network's absorption connected predetermination fraud claims.

The Dominion tribunal filings suggest that Fox News was rife with interior divisions.

Traditional quality journalists were acceptable against the network's opinion-show presenters and vice versa, with evening big Sean Hannity telling greeting big Steve Doocy that "News" was destroying them.

"They don't care," Mr Doocy replied. "They are JOURNALISTS."

In a radical chat with Mr Hannity and chap evening big Laura Ingraham, Mr Carlson wrote: "We are each officially moving for an organisation that hates us."

On the quality broadside of Fox, the feeling was mutual.

"In my 22 years affiliated with Fox, this is the closest happening I've seen to an existential situation - astatine slightest journalistically," Mr Sammon, the network's managing exertion astatine the time, wrote successful a December email.

Mr Murdoch said helium hated the network's "decision desk", which connected predetermination nighttime was archetypal to task that Mr Biden would triumph the cardinal authorities of Arizona.

Two months later, the time aft the US Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters, Mr Murdoch wondered whether immoderate of his sentiment hosts "went excessively far" successful airing predetermination claims.

"Still getting mud thrown astatine us," helium wrote successful effect to disapproval from immoderate Republican senators that his web was liable for the violence.

The barroom for proving a defamation lawsuit nether US instrumentality is rather high. Dominion volition person to beryllium that Fox News knew the predetermination claims were mendacious and that it caused meaningful harm to its estimation and concern interests.

This is wherefore what Fox executives and journalists were saying astir the network's sum successful backstage texts and emails - what they believed to beryllium the information versus what their aired publically - is truthful pivotal.

Fox News, successful a connection released aft the Dominion filings were made public, said Dominion lawyers are coating an inaccurate picture.

The voting company, it said, had "mischaracterised the record, cherry-picked quotes stripped of cardinal discourse and spilled sizeable ink connected facts that are irrelevant nether black-letter principles of defamation law".

Mr Murdoch, for his part, has expressed immoderate regrets implicit however Fox covered the post-election disputes, but said his web was doing its job.

"We study the news, and we person dozens of radical a time connected the channels that are talking astir the news," Mr Murdoch said during his suit deposition. "And this was large news. The president of the United States was making chaotic claims, but that is news."

Lachlan Murdoch, lad of Rupert and main enforcement of Fox Corporation, the quality broadcaster's genitor company, argued connected Thursday that the suit was "really astir politics".

"A quality organisation has an obligation, and it is an obligation, to study quality fulsomely, wholesomely and without fearfulness oregon favour," Mr Murdoch said astatine an capitalist league successful San Francisco, according to quality reports. "And that's what Fox News has ever done, and that's what Fox News volition ever do."

"I deliberation a batch of the sound that you perceive astir this lawsuit is really not astir the law, and it's not astir journalism," helium added. "It's truly astir politics, right? And that's unluckily much reflective of conscionable the benignant of polarised nine that we unrecorded successful today."

Whether Dominion is yet palmy oregon not, the public-relations harm to Fox News from the suit is already important - and could lend to what immoderate of the network's executives seemed to fearfulness astir - the nonaccomplishment of spot from their loyal blimpish viewers.