Donald Trump was one of the many Americans not happy about Fox News canceling Tucker Carlson.
The 45th President made sure everyone knew about his displeasure.
And Donald Trump just dropped the hammer on Fox News for taking Tucker Carlson off the air.
Trump gave his most expansive thoughts on Fox News yanking Tucker Carlson off the air during an appearance on Donald Trump Jr.’s Triggered podcast.
In his comments, Trump addressed the speculation that Fox News made Carlson the scapegoat for the network paying out a record $787 million defamation settlement to Dominion Voting System over voter fraud claims about the 2020 election.
Trump wondered why Carlson was fired when other hosts kept their jobs.
“I think it’s a shame what happened to Tucker. He had the number one show — he was doing great, his show’s very interesting and he was out there in the sense that he was telling the truth. To me, the other ones are out there because they’re lying and they’re hiding and they’re afraid to talk,” Trump began.
Trump also questioned why Fox News did not fight Dominion’s defamation claim at trial.
He noted that Fox News had a strong First Amendment case.
“I don’t know how they could have lost the case if they had lawyers that would’ve talked about free speech and have had lawyers that would’ve talked about platforms. It’s a news platform that means every time somebody goes on the news, if they say something and if it’s wrong, CBS or NBC Fake News or ABC Fake News, any of them — any of these groups or outlets or platforms are gonna be responsible for whatever is said. It’s ridiculous. You won’t have any news — they ought to close up their news shows right now. So I think losing Tucker, having Tucker not be there, is gonna have a big impact and a very negative impact on Fox,” Trump continued.
Under the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan case, plaintiffs like Dominion have a very high bar to prove that news outlets defamed them and committed actual malice.
But the trial judge issued multiple rulings that stripped Fox News of the ability to make the standard legal defenses that any news organization would in a defamation case.
Since Fox executives knew the network was likely to lose a case with its hands tied behind its back in left-wing Delaware, they agreed to settle even though the trial judge’s rulings left open the very real possibility that any verdict would get thrown out on appeal.
Fox did not want a battle that stretched on for years and settled to make the case go away.
And in doing so, many believe they used the settlement as an excuse to take Tucker Carlson off the air ahead of the 2024 election so Fox News can pivot in a more establishment direction.
Deplorable Daily will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
