Murdoch Leaked ‘Confidential Information’ About Biden Campaign Ads to Trump Camp’s Jared Kushner, Court Filing Claims

Alex GriffingFeb 27th, 2023, 5:20 pm

FILE - In this April 2, 2020, file photo, White House adviser Jared Kushner listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a White House press briefing in Washington. Jersey City has reached an agreement in a lawsuit by White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family’s company that claimed the city tried to sabotage a $900 million residential tower project out of political animosity toward Kushner’s father-in-law, President Donald Trump. According to Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, the project will go forward without a tax abatement that was at the center of the lawsuit. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

The latest bombshell court filing from Dominion Voting Systems was made public Monday, ahead of the April trial for the company’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Included in the filing is a brief section looking at contact between Rupert Murdoch, the CEO and chairman of Fox Corporation, and then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign – specifically Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

The voting technology company is suing Fox News, alleging the network knowingly aired election lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election — falsely implicating Dominion.

“Executives at all levels of Fox — both (Fox News Network) and (Fox Corporation) — knowingly opened Fox’s airwaves to false conspiracy theories about Dominion,” Dominion wrote in the unsealed filing Monday.

“During Trump’s campaign, Rupert provided Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, with Fox confidential information about Biden’s ads, along with debate strategy. Ex.600, R.Murdoch 210:6-9; 213:17-20; Ex.603 (providing Kushner a preview of Biden’s ads before they were public),” reads the filing.

“But, on election night, Rupert would not help with the Arizona call. As Rupert described it: ‘My friend Jared Kushner called me saying, ‘This is terrible,’ and I could hear Trump’s voice in the background shouting,” added the filing, noting the ongoing contact between Murdoch and the Trump campaign — the extent of which was not previously reported.

Fox News released a statement regarding the latest Dominion document dump, which is the second major unsealing of evidence in recent weeks:

Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims. Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear FOX for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment.

You can read the entire brief here.