Ex-Fox News Contributor’s Mind Blown by ‘Amazing’ Murdoch Testimony Admitting Network Knowingly Pushed False Election Claims

Former Fox News contributor Jonah Goldberg said he found it “amazing” that chairman Rupert Murdoch did not attempt to evade lawyers’ questions about the network’s talent promoting election claims they knew were false.

In the days and weeks after the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump falsely alleged the election was stolen from him. Some Fox News hosts and guests followed suit, promoting all manner of conspiracy theories about the election, including specific claims that Dominion Voting Systems rigged its machines against Trump.

Dominion is suing Fox News for $1.6 million in damages. The network maintains the suit is meritless.

Some of Murdoch’s deposition in the case was unsealed in a filing on Monday, and it showed the media mogul admitted his hosts knowingly pushed fake election claims onto viewers.

“They endorsed,” Murdoch testified under oath. “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight.”

Appearing on Wednesday’s The Lead, Jake Tapper asked for reaction from Goldberg, who was also deposed in the suit. Though he could not discuss his testimony, he addressed Murdoch’s.

“Were you surprised by all the candor and admissions that, yes, ‘we were spreading lies and we knew it was lies but we did it because of money and ratings’?” Tapper asked, paraphrasing Murdoch’s testimony.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s this weird dichotomy between shock and surprise,” Goldberg replied. “I’m not really surprised, but Rupert Murdoch is a canny, smart player.”

He went on to joke that Murdoch’s testimony sent his lawyers straight for the hard drugs.

“You could almost hear Rupert’s lawyers taking out the black tar heroin and tightening the cinch on their arms,” Goldberg said. “It’s amazing that he would say some of these things and not try to obfuscate or dodge the question. And time and time again, both in the text messages and in the depositions, you have senior Fox executives just saying the quiet part out loud over and over again.”

Watch above via CNN.

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