FOX Corporation and Fox News on Friday, signaled that it would not tolerate the continued leaks of Tucker Carlson’s off-air comments.
The company’s legal team issued a letter to lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems demanding that it confirm whether recent leaks to left-wing media outlets emanated from the company or its legal advisers.
Fox News clarified that the leaks violated the $787 million settlement agreement with Dominion that pulled the plug on a defamation lawsuit, which the company faced over some of its reporting on alleged fraud in the 2020 election.
It’s unclear from the letter what remedy Fox News may have if the leaks continue.
In the news: FOX Demands Media Matters Remove ‘Unlawfully Obtained’ Unaired Footage Of Tucker Carlson In FOXLEAKS
In recent days, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Media Matters for America have published articles based on the leaked material. The claims by the left-wing media are that the tapes reveal Carlson making racist and sexist comments, and in one case complaining about the low quality of the network’s subscription service, Fox Nation, and saying that no one watches it.
“To our knowledge, portions of documents described and quoted in these articles were never made public on the docket, and, notably, three of the documents cited in The Daily Beast were only exhibits at Mr. Carlson’s deposition (not in any Court filings),” Dan Webb, Fox News’ lawyer, wrote to Dominion’s legal team.
“Additionally, the testimony from Mr. Carlson’s confidential deposition quoted in the Daily Beast article was never made public on the docket.
Disclosure of these documents would violate the Protective Order and the [settlement] Agreement.”
Webb noted that the settlement document specifically prohibits the use or release of the previously undisclosed material “for any other purpose,” or to “any person.” “There is no exception for members of the media,” Webb noted.
In the news: Report: Accuser Of Tucker Carlson Never Actually Met Him In Person
“These disclosures also violate the text and spirit of the parties’ Agreement, which requires return or destruction of all of Fox’s Confidential or Attorneys’ Eyes Only Discovery Material within 30 days of dismissal of the case,” Webb added. “Fox takes these improper disclosures seriously and requests that you and your clients investigate and confirm that you are not the source of these improper disclosures. This is not a baseless request considering your colleague Stephen Shackelford’s comment to the press that he “hope[s] it all gets un-redacted at some point.”
Webb asked that Dominion respond by Monday.
The letter was just one of two demands that Fox News issued on Friday.
As The Free Press reported on Friday, the network filed a cease and desist letter against Media Matters arguing the same points about the leaks releasing Fox’s intellectual property in violation of a court order and the settlement agreement.
Media Matters has a long history of editing materials from conservative media figures and presenting them out of context in an effort to embarrass them and their employers.
Reuters reported on Friday that Media Matters President Angelo Carusone defended his company’s practices, saying that “reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism” and that Fox News was being “absurd” to maintain otherwise.
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