During this week’s pre-trial hearings, the judge who will preside over the impending trial in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion complaint against Fox News made numerous frank comments about the cable news giant, including one snide remark directed at Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo.
In questioning Fox News attorney Michael Skokna at Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Davis poked fun at Bartiromo for having discussed airing information on Donald Trump’s defense fund.
Dominion’s legal team accused Fox of withholding this evidence when it should have been presented.
Former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who is also suing Fox News in two different lawsuits from Dominion’s accusations, submitted tapes that were discussed at the hearing.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis fined Fox and announced an investigation into the network’s possible suppression of evidence and other pertinent material during Wednesday and Thursday’s pretrial proceedings.
Rudy Giuliani, who was on the call with Bartiromo, confessed on the air that he had no evidence that Dominion’s software had tampered with the election.
Skokna stated in court, “I mean, I think we also just discovered about this and provided it, and we believe that the whole tapes provide pertinent evidence to genuine malice and Ms. Bartiromo, what she knew, the questions she was asking, and what she was saying off air versus on air.”
Media critic for the Washington Post Erik Wemple claims that the judge’s deadpan manner baffled the Fox attorney.
And that wasn’t the only time Judge Davis used colorful language to describe Fox News’s coverage of the election’s aftermath.
Davis added, “I could have a lot of fun with this case,” amid a discussion about Dominion’s ability to cross-examine Fox witnesses.
Dominion has tried to call Bartiromo to testify since she was a key Fox personality who helped spread Trump’s fake news during the election. Bartiromo has continued to advocate election denial despite a mandated fact check on the conspiracy theories she promoted.
