‘Hard Thing For Fox To Swallow’: NYT Reporter Says Fox Could Be Forced to Publicly Apologize Over Election Claims

If Fox News settles or loses at trial in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit regarding defamatory statements about election fraud in the 2020 election, the network could be ordered to issue an on-air apology, which “will be a hard thing for Fox to swallow,” according to a New York Times reporter.

Appearing on MSNBC with Katy Tur Monday, Nick Confessore said Fox may be unwilling to settle because of that stipulation and could proceed with taking their chances at trial.

“If they go to trial and lose, it’s possible, yes, a court could order an apology or a settlement could include some kind of apology,” Confessore said. “I think that will be a hard thing for Fox to swallow; they would presumably have to go on the air and have their primetime hosts who peddled these lies say, ‘I lied to you, I was wrong. I knew it was wrong. I’m sorry.’ It’s hard to imagine that—it would be catastrophic for the network, for any network. I think that’s part of why there’s resistance.”

Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion for allegedly airing false claims that they used their voting machines to help rig the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. A delay in jury selection Monday was reportedly the result of squabbling over the amount of damages that Dominion can claim.

Confessore said it would be hard to imagine Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, or Jeanine Pirro apologizing on-air, especially since they continue to argue that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. He did not.

“What this case is about is Fox hosts and guests lying about the results of the 2020 elections and their implications,” said Confessore. “There are still Fox hosts on the air right now who lie about the implications of the elections and cast January 6th as a noble insurrection against, you know, a wronged loss. So how can they apologize for something they’re still doing, which is essential to their business model? Which is to keep happy the audience that believes that Trump won in 2020.”

Barring a last-minute settlement, jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in the defamation case.

Fox News sent the following statement to Mediaite:

“Dominion’s lawsuit is a political crusade in search of a financial windfall, but the real cost would be cherished First Amendment rights. While Dominion has pushed irrelevant and misleading information to generate headlines, FOX News remains steadfast in protecting the rights of a free press, given a verdict for Dominion and its private equity owners would have grave consequences for the entire journalism profession.”

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.