-Damning new details
have been revealed from the billion-dollar defamation
lawsuit against Fox News for spreading
the baseless conspiracy theory that the 2020 election
was rigged against Donald Trump, including an admission
from Fox boss Rupert Murdoch that the network's hosts
endorsed that lie despite knowing the truth.
And yet even now, Fox's star anchors
are still repeating the lie out of fear
of losing Trump's base. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." [ Theme music plays ] ♪♪ The conservative movement, led by their chief propaganda
outlet, Fox News, has a problem.
You see, they spent years laying the groundwork
for Donald Trump's rise. Some of their
star personalities, like Sean Hannity
and Jeanine Pirro, even appeared onstage with Trump
at a campaign event. -The one thing that has made
and defined your presidency more than anything else -- promises made, promises kept. -[ Loudly ] If you like the
America that he is making now, you've got to make sure
you get out there tomorrow if you haven't voted yet.
Everyone you know -- your grandmother, your cousin,
your kids. Even your next-door neighbor,
if you don't like them, get them out to vote
for Donald Trump. -[ Loudly ] "I hate my neighbor,
and he hates me because he's always
calling the cops to file a noise complaint, even though it's just me
talking quietly on the phone." [ Normal voice ] In fact,
that microphone -- that microphone isn't even on. Pirro's voice
just carries like that. If the microphone had been on, it would have flipped
all the breakers in the arena. -[ Loudly ] If you like the
America that he is making now... [ Electricity powering down ] -Although the grossest part
of that clip is when Trump first invites Hannity
up onstage, and Hannity uses
one of Trump's lines to insult the reporters
covering the rally, in the back, then smiles at Trump
like a little kiss-ass. -Sean Hannity, come on up.
Sean Hannity. [ Cheers and applause ] -By the way, all those people
in the back are fake news. [ Cheers and applause ] [ Chuckles ] [ Laughter ] -He smiles back at Trump the way your two-year-old
smiles at you when they first learn
to poop in the toilet. [ Laughter ] "Look, Daddy,
I went potty all by myself." [ Laughter ] "But don't get used to it."
[ Laughter ] You know, he's supposedly a host
on an alleged news network. And by the way, they didn't
have to call it Fox News. They could have called it
The Loud Guys Channel or, if they insist, FOX News, but spell "news"
with two O's and a Z so everyone would know
it's ironic. Point is, he works for Fox News. He's campaigning onstage
with a political candidate while calling the rest
of the media fake news. Look, I think my politics
are pretty clear, but I'd never appear at a rally
for a presidential candidate, mainly because
I would need cue cards, and for some reason, Wally can't
get Secret Service clearance. -It's true, Seth.
I have a criminal record. -Wally, what crime
did you commit? -Oh, I commit a crime
every night, Seth. You see, whenever I'm in front
of an audience, I kill. [ Laughter ] [ Cheers and applause ] -Don't make a Hannity face!
[ Laughter ] You're fake news! Anyway, we now know from
a bombshell new court filing and a billion-dollar
defamation suit that Hannity,
along with other Fox hosts, are the ones who knowingly lied
to their viewers. -A stunning, new court filing
revealing how top talent and executives at Fox News
trashed Donald Trump and ridiculed his legal team and their 2020 election
conspiracies behind the cameras, all while hyping those
same conspiracies on the air to their viewers. -As Trump lawyers, Rudy Giuliani
and Sidney Powell were making wildly false claims
about rigged voting machines after Trump lost in 2020, private communications reveal
that pro-Trump voices at Fox News
were calling it nuts. "That whole narrative
that Sidney was pushing," said Fox's Sean Hannity, "I did not believe it
for one second." -No, you didn't believe it
for one second. Well, then why did you
have her on your show? Were you doing a segment on how
leopard print is back in style? [ Laughter ]
Look at her. She looks like the
Tampa Bay Realtor of the Year. But...
[ Laughter ] "Oh, yeah, on a tough year,
it should be noted." In fairness to Hannity,
maybe -- maybe he was just grilling Powell
on this narrative he says he didn't
believe for one second. -Let me ask you --
and I asked you about this on the radio show today --
I've gone over everything
I've been able to find out. Nobody liked Dominion
Voting Systems -- nobody. You said to me
that there were people watching an Internet connection
in real time, but they can't speak publicly
and haven't signed affidavits to that.
Why? -Well, there are
a number of reasons. Some are within the government. We've got
evidence of corruption all across the country
in countless districts. The machine ran an algorithm
that shaved votes from Trump and awarded them to Biden. They used the machines
to trash large batches of votes that should have been awarded
to President Trump. And they used a machine
to inject and add massive quantities
of votes for Mr. Biden. The only reason we really
found out about it -- -I thought Democrats told us
that we like whistleblowers. You're saying that
these people can't talk, 'cause they're
gonna lose their job? I would think that
they get protection. -They're gonna lose their job, their lives
have been threatened. One witness we know of
got beaten up and is in the hospital.
-"It's very sad. One witness we know of
got beaten up so bad, his head started to leak." [ Laughter ] So, Sean Hannity, the guy who's gleefully
stood onstage with Trump and called the reporters
in attendance "fake news," was on air endorsing
the views of a person he himself said he
did not believe for one second. And just to be clear, it's not just me saying
Hannity endorsed that lie. It's Hannity's boss,
Rupert Murdoch. A new court filing this week
features a partial transcript of a deposition with Murdoch, where he admits that Fox hosts
endorsed the bogus claim that the 2020 election
was stolen. Here's part of that conversation
between Murdoch and the attorney
questioning him. Now, as I read this,
I just want you to know, I can't really do
a Rupert Murdoch impression. So instead,
I'm gonna read his answers in the most cartoonish
Australian accent I can manage. Here we go.
"You are aware now that Fox did more
than simply host these guests and give them
a platform, correct?" [ Australian accent ] "Yeah,
I think you've shown me some material
in support of that." [ Normal voice ] "In fact,
you are now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion
of a stolen election?" [ Australian accent ]
"Uh, not Fox, no. Uh, yeah, not Fox. But maybe, uh, Lou Dobbs, maybe, uh, Maria, as, uh, commentators." [ Normal voice ]
"We went through Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo, yes?" [ Australian accent ]
"Yes. C'mon." [ Normal voice ]
"Fox host Jeanine Pirro?" [ Australian accent ]
"I think so." [ Normal voice ] Fox Business
Host Lou Dobbs?" [ Australia accent ]
"Oh, yeah, Dobbsy, he did a bit, yeah." [ Normal voice ]
"Fox host Sean Hannity?" [ Australian accent ]
"Ah, the wombat. Yeah, a bit.
Sean 'The Wombat' Hannity." [ Normal voice ] "All were
in the document, correct?" [ Australian accent ]
"Yeah, they were." [ Normal voice ] "About
Fox endorsing the narrative of a stolen election, correct?" [ Australian ] "No.
Some of our commentators, yeah, they were endorsing it." [ Normal voice ]
"About their endorsement of a stolen election?" [ Australian accent ] "Yeah. Yeah, they endorsed it."
[ Laughter ] [ Normal voice ]
Anyway, the point is, Murdoch said, quote,
"they endorsed," meaning Fox hosts
endorsed the lie that the election was stolen,
knowing it was a lie. In fact, that same court filing
also revealed that Hannity later
changed his tune on Trump after the January 6th
insurrection, although you'd never know it
from watching Hannity's show. Again, this is from
Sean Hannity's boss, Rupert Murdoch. According to court filing,
Paul Ryan, who is now a Fox board member,
had e-mailed Murdoch, "Ryan believed that 'some
high percentage of Americans' thought the election was stolen 'because they got
a diet of information telling them
the election was stolen from what they believe
were credible sources.' Rupert responded
to Ryan's email," saying, "'Thanks, Paul.
Wake-up call for Hannity, who has been privately
disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers."
Oh, my God. Sean Hannity
was disgusted by Trump? What else was he doing
in private that he wasn't telling
his viewers about? Was he wearing
a "resist" T-shirt and playing with gender-neutral
potato-head gods? Oh, God, was he eating... [Echoing] woke M&M's? [ Thunder crashes ] [ Woman cackling ] -The milk chocolate
melts in your mouth, not in your
[Echoing] hand. [ Applause ] [ Laughter ] That's right.
Hannity was, according to Rupert Murdoch himself,
disgusted by Trump. But Hannity
didn't tell his viewers that, just like he didn't tell
his viewers, the stolen-election narrative
was B.S. Which brings us back
to the central problem the conservative movement
led by Fox is currently facing. They created this monster,
but they don't control it. They know that, and
that's why they're terrified. Right now,
they're desperately trying to put the genie
back in the bottle. They're hyping Ron DeSantis
as an alternative to Trump, even though Trump
still leads in many polls. Just watch this clip
from "Fox & Friends, earlier this week,
where host Brian Kilmeade scurries around
a Florida diner, just desperately searching
for someone, anyone, who is willing to back
DeSantis over Trump. -First off, Metro Diner here,
I got a question for you. Ready?
-Yeah. Alright, 2024, who's
pumped up for the election? [ Cheers and applause ]
Alright. [ Smash Mouth's "All Star"
plays ] Rap-- Rapid-fire. Who's your man?
Who's your woman? -My man -- Donald Trump.
-Donald Trump. -Donald Trump. Christie, no. Christie, No. -Who's your man?
-Trump. -Or woman? Donald Trump. -I'd say Trump. -Trump. A lot of Trump fans. -Trump and Nikki Haley.
-And Nikki Haley. -Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. -Alright, so far,
a lot of Donald Trump. -I see -- I see
"Governor DeSantis." And what about
President DeSantis? -I like it, I like it?
-Who's your pick? -Oh, gosh, I don't know.
Trump or DeSantis? I'm either/or.
-So you're right in the middle. -Yes, I am.
-But you're pumped up for it? -I am super pumped.
-Oh, my God. That was like watching
a gerbil trapped in a maze for a science experiment,
just locked in there, desperately searching
for a reward pellet. Also, it's fun
to watch Brian Kilmeade run around a diner
while Smash Mouth plays and, at the same time, think, "He ain't the sharpest tool
in the shed." Also, I would just like
to point out that according
to the clock on-screen, it is just past 6:30 a.m., and they are blasting
the "Shrek" soundtrack. Obviously, a pretty
conservative place. But based on the fact
it's the crack of dawn and your diner is a
standing-room-only dance party, seems like Biden's America is
going pretty well for you guys. You all got egg money.
[ Laughter ] Now, before you make the shape
of an "L" on your forehead in regard
to Kilmeade's inability to find a DeSantis reporter,
even I feel bad when he finally sees someone
wearing a DeSantis T-shirt, races across the room
to talk to her, and even she says she's torn
between DeSantis and Trump. Come on, lady,
that's almost as bad as wearing a shirt that says, "Ask me about how
I'm voting for DeSantis!" Are you voting for DeSantis? "Um, maybe."
[ Laughter ] "I just wanted to be asked." [ Laughter ] Kilmeade ran to her
like he saw a tunnel painted on the side
of the mountain and thought, "I'm gonna
catch that roadrunner." [ Laughter ]
But that clip perfectly encapsulates
the problem for Fox News. No matter how hard
they try to wriggle their way out of the situation
they put themselves in, they are captive
to the audience they created. That's why Fox is terrified
of losing viewers in the aftermath
of the election, and that's why
they were willing to do or say whatever was necessary
to avoid losing them, even if that meant
repeating outright lies that they knew
were outright lies. Fox host Tucker Carlson was
apparently so terrified of Trump that, according
to the court filing, he wrote in one text message that Trump is "a demonic force,
a destroyer. But he's not going to
destroy us." I don't even think I've ever
called Trump a demonic force. That's worse than anything
I've ever said about Trump, including the time I called
Trump a [Prolonged bleep]. [ Laughter ] [ Bleep continues ] [ Cheers and applause ] Ohhh, we got -- we got some -- I've got some lip-readers. [ Laughter ] Tucker was apparently so
terrified of this demonic force that when a Fox News reporter
fact-checked Trump's unhinged claims
about Dominion on Twitter, Tucker wanted her punished. -When Trump falsely claimed
that Dominion Machines cost him 2.7 million votes, Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich
responded with a tweet, saying, "Dominion Voting
and top election infrastructure officials
categorically deny this." Some of Heinrich's
colleagues at Fox wanted her to be punished,
even though they knew that what she was saying
was true. "Please get her fired.
Seriously," Tucker Carlson wrote hosts
Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity. "It needs to stop immediately,
like tonight. It's measurably
hurting the company. The stock price down.
Not a joke." -Ugh. Cancel culture.
Am I right? But there you go. Faux-populist scourge
of the establishment Tucker Carlson was worried
about the company's stock price. You know what that means?
That means, on top of everything else,
on top of being a liar, racist, conspiracy theorist,
he's also one of those guys who actually uses the stock app. I mean, what kind of monster? Isn't that the first thing we
all do when we get a new phone? You either delete the stocks app
or you moving into a folder called Apps Only Psychos Use, along with
Apple Maps and Compass. Also, you guys,
why is there a Compass app? Is a large percentage of
Apple's customer base sailors? "Arrrghh!
I think we're lost. You find the North Star,
and I'll open the Sextant app." [ Laughter ]
"Ah, avast, ye mateys, anyone got a charger?"
[ Laughter ] "Always down to 2%."
[ Laughter ] "Blackbeard, use your head!"
[ Laughter ] I'll tell you this much. If things ever go badly enough that, "Yeah, we're still
on Compass bits," we'll get back to the news
with a bone to pick, right? Every now and then,
you know, a door opens and you get a chance
to unload a lot of thoughts you've had
about the Compass app. "Sure, I can move
back on to Fox News. We talk about them all the time.
This is my one chance. And look, I can tell
I don't need an app to tell
you're not fully with me. [ Laughter ] [ Chuckles ] I'll tell you this much.
If things ever go badly enough that I need to use
my Compass app, start writing my eulogy.
If my phone knows me at all, I'll click that thing open,
instead of north or south, it'll just say, "You're gonna
die in these woods." [ Laughter ]
See? [ Cheers and applause ] Also, let me just say,
by way of comparison, as far as I can recall,
I have never once looked at Comcast's stock price, mostly because
I'm super worried it went down when I was doing
my Australian accent. I don't want to get a call from the head of
International Business Affairs telling me, [Australian accent]
"Oi, mate, give it a rest. Crikey."
[ Laughter ] [ Normal voice ]
Yet, two years later, Fox is still scared of losing
that Trump base. And so. two years later,
they're still repeating those same lies
about the 2020 election. Now they just do it in their thinly veiled,
"Just Asking Questions" style. Here's Tucker doing that
just last month. -There are so many
unanswered questions, some of them lingering. How, for example,
did senile hermit Joe Biden get 15 million more votes
than his former boss, rock-star crowd-surfer
Barack Obama? Results like that
would seem to defy the laws of known physics and
qualify, instead, as a miracle. Was the 2020 election a miracle? -"Was the 2020 election
a miracle? Did God himself intervene
and make Joe Biden president? And if so, how did he do it? Did he go to a polling place
15 million times in different disguises
to vote for Joe Biden? Did he go one time
disguised as a chef? Did he go a second time
disguised as a pilot? Did he go a third,
a fourth, and a fifth time wearing all the various costumes
from the Village People? And if God did do that,
it would raise the question, 'What if God was one of us,
just a slob like one of us, just a stranger on the bus?' Was he trying to make
his way home? And if he was trying
to make his way home, how did he find it? Does he use the Compass app?" [ Laughter,
cheers and applause ] We stuck it out. It paid off. "And if all of that is true, does that mean
God committed voter fraud? And if God
committed voter fraud, does that mean he's..."
-Fake news. This has been "A Closer Look." [ Theme music plays ] [ Cheers and applause ]
