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It was about three months ago when Fox News agreed to a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, resolving a defamation lawsuit that had already done significant damage to the controversial network’s reputation. There’s no doubt that Fox executives were glad to have the case — which stemmed from the network’s conspiratorial allegations about the company and its voting machines — behind them.
Of course, they’d be even more pleased if it weren’t one of several related cases.
Two weeks ago, for example, Fox also agreed to a $12 million settlement with a former Fox producer named Abby Grossberg, which came against a backdrop of a separate lawsuit, filed by Smartmatic — another voting technology company — which is still pending. Like the Dominion case, Smartmatic is suing Fox for $2.7 billion stemming from the network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath.
In case this weren’t quite enough, NBC News reported yesterday on yet another lawsuit that will likely get the network’s lawyers’ attention.
Ray Epps, a Trump supporter who became the focus of right-wing conspiracy theories after he protested in Washington on Jan. 6, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and former host Tucker Carlson for claiming he was an undercover FBI agent who helped provoke the riot at the Capitol. In his lawsuit, Epps accuses Fox News of telling a “fantastical story” that he acted as a government-sponsored instigator of the violence that ensued as Congress sought to count the electoral votes to certify Joe Biden’s victory.
Given the number of cases, it’s probably worth revisiting our coverage from several months ago and reviewing how we arrived at this point.
If you’re unfamiliar with the conservative information bubble too many Republicans live inside of, Ray Epps’ name might not ring a bell. But for much of the right, he’s a key figure in Jan. 6 conspiracy theories.
In fact, in some conservative circles, there’s a theory that the FBI was somehow responsible, at least in part, for the attack on the Capitol, and a pro-Trump protester — Epps — was part of the scheme, working with federal law enforcement and helping direct the violence. The conspiracy theory has been considered, examined, and discredited.
A few too many Republicans peddled it anyway, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Then-Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of the Republicans who served on the Jan. 6 committee, took the conspiracy theory apart last year, concluding, “Sorry, crazies, it ain’t true.” Epps himself testified under oath to the House select panel, explaining that the unhinged conspiracy theories, pushed by his ostensible ideological allies, tore his life apart.
And yet, even now, some GOP voices seem undaunted. As recently as yesterday, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas brought up Epps during a hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray.
But congressional Republicans have never been the only ones fueling the fire. Fox News also appears to have played a key role in promoting Epps-related theories — which is why yesterday’s civil litigation was filed.
It’s too soon to say with confidence whether this case will produce the kind of blockbuster revelations that the public learned by way of the Dominion case, though my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin wrote a good piece yesterday on some of the legal angles worth watching.
Also note, Rodney Smolla, the president of Vermont Law School and a defamation expert who consulted for Dominion during its case against Fox News, told The New York Times that Epps' case appears to have merit. "No case is easy," Smolla explained, “but this one is certainly, in my view, viable.”
Time will tell what becomes of the litigation, but given recent history, it’s probably worth watching for a settlement. As a Washington Post analysis concluded yesterday, Epps “may forever be unfairly seen as an enemy of the political right to which he once and perhaps still belongs. But at least he’ll probably be rich.”
This post updates our related earlier coverage.