Judge Slaps Down Fox's Attempt To Prevent Rupert Murdoch From Testifying

Fox News was desperate to prevent owner Rupert Murdoch from having to testify in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit, and they had tried to argue that the 92-year old was a little too fragile to travel. But a judge pointed out that he's already been traveling all over the place, so coming to New York to testify shouldn't be a problem. Farron Cousins explains why the network was so desperate to protect Murdoch.

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*This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos.

According to a recent hearing for the Dominion Defamation lawsuit against Fox News, Fox's lawyers had apparently tried to argue that the 92 year old owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch was somehow too old, maybe too sickly, to come back to Delaware to testify in the trial. Now, the judge wasn't having any of this. After all, Rupert Murdoch literally has homes all over the world, and he frequently travels between them, including recently. So the judge, after hearing Fox News lawyers say that, oh, he can't travel. There's covid concerns, you know, he just, he is old. Look at him. We don't want him traveling the world. The judge said quote, be careful to the Fox lawyers and then said, don't make me look like an idiot. And then the judge said, I also have people telling me that he's done some things recently that show he's hardly infirm.

So the judge clearly getting a little testy with Fox's lawyers trying to say that, no, no, no. Poor Rupert barely can get around. We know he is got a new fiance, but, uh, you know, he is just, he can't do anything. He's old, he's decrepit. Right? Don't make me look stupid. That is quite a quote. And in fact, the judge actually said, don't make him look like an idiot. So the judge clearly thinks that Fox News's lawyers are trying to pull a fast one autumn, which is really not what you want the judge to think when you still have to go in front of him to actually argue the case. And then once they got smacked down, Fox News lawyer, Matthew Carter, um, tried to say that there was just a miscommunication. We just didn't think he needed to come because he'd already sat for a seven hour deposition.

You know, when we made the filing, clearly, you know, we got some wires crossed. We weren't trying to say that he was incapable of travel. We were just trying to say that, you know, he, he, he already testified with the deposition, but that's not what you said. Now, is it because you specifically mentioned travel concerns due to Covid 19, not he's already testified for seven hours. Please explain why we would need him to come testify in front of the live jury. Because you can play the deposition clips, and that's often the case in trial. You don't have to bring the person back in. But again, that's not what Trump's lawyer or, or excuse me, so much Trump crime. I forget who I'm talking about sometimes. That's not what Fox's lawyer said. They did not say, please explain why his testimony in person is necessary. When he testified for seven hours in a deposition,

They said, can't travel due to concerns of Covid 19. So you, you kind of lied to the judge there, didn't you, Fox lawyers? I, I imagine that's probably not gonna play out well for you. But the bigger question, of course is why the lie? Why the backtracking, why do you not want Rupert Murdoch to go and testify at the trial? I mean, he owns the network that's being sued for defamation. He's got, you know, ultimate say over what happens at that network. He clearly said in his deposition that, uh, all the higher ups knew the election wasn't stolen. Oh, oh. That's why, that's why you don't want him to go and talk to the jury because it is one thing to see it on a videotape, but it's another to hear it from the man himself when he is sitting a few feet away from you that that network knew they were lying, but did it anyway. Fox lawyers understand that that would be detrimental to the case, detrimental to the point where they were willing to try to pull a fast one on the judge, a fast one that of course didn't work because the judge is clearly smarter than these lawyers, and that's probably not gonna end well for Fox News.