‘OMG’: Trump Election Lies Lawsuit Reveals These Mediaite Articles Stunned Fox News — Sparked Text Barrage

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

A newly-unredacted filing in the bombshell Smartmatic lawsuit over President Donald Trump’s election lies shows several Mediaite articles sparked a flurry of panicked internal communications at Fox News.

Smartmatic is suing Fox News for $2.7 billion for defamation after hosts at the network promoted Trump’s election claims and singled the company out, along with Dominion Voting Systems, as playing a part in those theories.

Fox News agreed to a settlement with Dominion in 2023 that included a $787.5 million payout just before the suit was about to play out in a weeks-long trial after volumes of damaging revelations were publicized pre-trial.

The new revelations from the Smartmatic filing include three occasions upon which Mediaite articles touched off shock, panic, and at times fury within Fox News.

There were articles that reported on the chants of “Fox News Sucks!” from the network’s own supporters following their 2020 election call for former President Joe Biden, one of which prompted an “OMG” from Sean Hannity:

236. On November 4, 2020, Porter Berry, head of Fox News Digital, sent a text to Fox News host Sean Hannity and his producers in which one of the producers sent a Mediaite article that reported a protest by Trump supporters chanting “Fox News sucks” to which Hannity responded, “OMG.” (Ex. 190; Ex. 109 at 73:9-75:12, 76:3-77:7; see also Ex. 191 (Mediaite article).

237. On November 5, 2020, Jay Wallace, President and Executive Editor of Fox News, and Bill Sammon were told by Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts that the network was “taking major heat for [Arizona] call” and that “viewers are also chanting ‘Fox News sucks.’” (Ex. 206; see also Ex. 144 at 142:22-143:21 (this was consistent with what Sammon had been hearing)).

In another stunning set of exchanges, senior Fox News executives seems surprised to learn that a Fox News anchor had done a fact check of a Hannity guest, one of them even exclaiming “This has to stop now”:

324. On December 2, 2020, Mediaite reported that Eric Shawn “fact-checked claims of voter fraud pushed by President [] Trump and a guest who appeared on” Hannity “with claims of driving ballots across state lines.” (Ex. 506).

a. Scott emailed a hyperlink of the Mediaite article to Wallace and Lowell, asking “And why is Eric Shawn fact checking Hannity? And his guest?” (Ex. 507).

b. Scott forwarded the email chain to Cooper, who responded: “I saw Eric Shawn in their rundown earlier and called about it…Why they would fact check a Hannity guest is beyond me.” (Ex. 507).

c. Scott replied to Cooper: “This has to stop now. I’m going to address this with you and Jay and Lowell tomorrow. This is bad business and there clearly is a lack of understanding what is happening in these shows. The audience is furious and we are just feeding them material. Bad for business.” (Ex. 507).

…

350. On December 2, after circulating a link to the Mediaite article, Scott wrote in an email to Meade Cooper:

This has to stop now. I’m going to address this with you and Jay [Wallace] and [Tom] Lowell tomorrow. This is bad business and clearly a lack of understanding what is happening in these shows. The audience is furious and we are just feeding them material. Bad for business. (Ex. 507; Ex. 83 at 199:8-201:6; Ex. 800; Ex. 148 at 372:21-374:13).

a. Cooper responded to Scott’s email: “Yup we don’t need to give them a reason to tune us out.” (Ex. 507; Ex. 83 at 199:8-201:6)

Hannity also got in on the conversation with a furious text:

351. On December 3, 2020, Hannity texted Jay Wallace a link to the Mediaite article about Eric Shawn’s fact check of a Hannity segment on election fraud with the demand, “Not only does this violate my contract, it insults an eyewitness whistleblower, who is basically called a liar on our network…. Is news completely tone deaf regarding the irreparable harm being done to the channels brand. Did you ever imagine our core audience chanting ‘Fox news Sucks’?…. Now that this is the second attack vs me after the election by the ‘news division’ I will be responding publicly and forcefully later today and protect my integrity and my reputation vs these unfair and unwarranted attacks.” (Ex. 509 at FNN062_4477391; Ex. 109 at 375:12-376:13).

a. In response, Wallace wrote “I am pissed about this Shawn hit because it’s the complete opposite of what we did all day on linear and digital with the whistleblowers – which we covered respectively – they were great guests. I am getting to him and the show. I’m sorry this happened. In regards to the overall issue – after 24 years plus of building this place up with you guys, it pains me deeply to see this fracture with the audience. I’m fighting like hell to get it back on track too.” (Ex. 509 at FNN062_4477391; Ex. 109 at 377:14-378:4).

b. Hannity responded to Wallace, “I’ll only say the last 2 days provided the best opportunity, especially after all these different incidents, since the election night debacle to show our core audience that we have heard you loud and clear, and we are making real changes…. Moving forward, if it happens again, I’m not going to write anyone, and I will forcefully defend myself. Please make sure everyone in ‘News’ understands I want to be left completely alone, on air, on social media, and in their private meetings.” (Ex. 509 at FNN062_4477391; Ex. 109 at 379:8-20).

And in another example, one Fox executive — senior vice president Gary Schreier — privately conceded that the Mediaite article Fox Anchor Maria Bartiromo Pushes Multiple Debunked Conspiracy Theories, published in the wake of the 2020 election, was “not good” for the network — and “isn’t even wrong”:

d. On November 5, 2020, Mediaite published an article titled: “Fox Anchor Maria Bartiromo Pushes Multiple Debunked Conspiracy Theories,” and stated that “Bartiromo pushed several debunked conspiracies about votes in the 2020 presidential election,” and “Bartiromo rounded up a series of debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 vote.” (Ex. 207; Ex. 145 at 152:20–153:13, 153:24–154:5).

Schreier wrote of the Mediaite piece, in a text message to another Fox executive, “That mediate [sic] piece was not good. And it isn’t even wrong.”

Mediaite articles were also featured prominently in the Dominion suit.