Media mogul and 92-year-old owner of Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, played a direct role in how the 2020 US election was called for Joe Biden over Donald Trump by Fox News, revealed the new unredacted messages accessed from Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case worth $1.6 billion on Friday.
“It would be great if we call it for Biden as soon as he gets over, say, 35,000 ahead in Pennsylvania,” wrote Murdoch to the network’s chief executive Suzanne Scott on November 6, 2020, three days after the election was held, but a day before Biden was put on top by Pennsylvania.
“Whenever we do it, it will all be over. Regardless of Arizona,” he added. Many observers were surprised and most of Trump’s followers were enraged after Fox News made an election night call to Arizona for Joe Biden.
The attempts made by Trump to have the call rescinded are also documented. Author Michael Wolff said that when Murdoch was reminded of Trump’s fury over Arizona, responding with a “signature grunt”, he said, “Fuck him.”
The reports have been denied by Fox News. However, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, in his memoir, wrote that Murdoch on election night told him that “the numbers are ironclad – it’s not even close”.
In the emails sent to Scott, which were revealed on Friday, Murdoch pointed to the commitment of Trump to his life about the electoral fraud and its accommodation by Fox News when he stated that on “second thoughts” the network should “maybe” call the election when Joe Biden was leading by “50,000 in Pennsylvania” but also added that the call was “subject to litigation”.
In the end, 10 minutes after the other news networks, Fox called Pennsylvania for Biden when he was leading Trump by almost 35,000 votes in the state.
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Speaking to the viewers, anchor Martha MacCallum said, “Keep in mind the Trump campaign is in the midst of waging legal challenges in several states. But the path is clear for the new president-elect.”
In the emails sent to Scott, the media mogul also said that Fox News contributor and Wall Street Journal editor Paul Gigot believed such a call “won’t change Trump”.
“But he’s got to get some real evidence. Fact that Rudy is advising really bad!” wrote Murdoch.
(With inputs from agencies)
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