Dan Abrams Challenges Dominion Lawyer On Use of Record Settlement: Why Not ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is?’
Now that Fox News has agreed to settle Dominion’s defamation lawsuit against them for $787.5 million, Mediaite founder Dan Abrams wants to know what the voting systems company intends to do with all the money.
On Wednesday, Abrams — during his NewsNation show — acknowledged that the settlement financially sets Fox News back for fueling 2020 election lies, but it also happens to be a major cash windfall for Dominion and its shareholders. Since Dominion CEO John Poulos has spoken about his employees’ lives being negatively impacted as a result of Fox’s coverage, Abrams asked how many Dominion workers will receive a piece of the settlement, and what will happen with the rest of it.
Look, Dominion’s defamation case was strong. They weren’t the bad guys here, and it was largely validated by this massive settlement. But let’s not be so naive to think that this was just about the truth. It was also about a private equity firm making a lot of money. And if they’re true to their word, they’d use a big chunk of that payout to continue that fight, or in other words, put their money where their mouth is.
To get some answers, Abrams spoke with Dominion attorney Davida Brook, starting with whether the settlement would be used to compensate the company’s employees.
“So many of the employees of Dominion are shareholders in the company,” Brook answered, “and they will be seeing in the benefits of the $787 million dollar settlement that Fox agreed to.”
Abrams noted that Brook’s mention of “many” Dominion employees implies that some of them won’t receive anything from the settlement. He also predicted that the great bulk of the settlement is likely to go toward Staple Street Capital LLC, the private equity firm that owns most of Dominion.
“You would think if they’re true to their word,” Abrams said, “that they would make the employees first and foremost the focus here, and give them more than just ‘many’ of them, who are shareholders, some sort of return.”
Brook’s response:
I can tell you that the employees of Dominion right now are just beyond thrilled and thankful for what both Mister Poulos and Staple Street Capital have done for them. This case has been incredibly hard-fought. It’s been incredibly hard-fought by literally every single person at Dominion, and at Staple Street Capital, and I think they all share in the victory today, and they are truly grateful for the result that Dominion was able to achieve in the public.
Abrams continued to press Brook on Dominion’s “obligation” on the subject, and Brook retorted by referring to all of the negative revelations about Fox News before the network settled the case.
“It was a critical goal to achieve that accountability and to expose that truth and to get that ruling from the court. That it was crystal clear that there was no evidence, in this case, showing that Dominion stole the 2020 election and there was no settlement before those goals were achieved.”
Watch above via NewsNation.
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