Hundreds of pages of damning filings in Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox, in which the election technology company alleges it was defamed on Fox News’ airwaves after the 2020 election, became newly available to the public this week after the court removed substantial redactions to the documents. The unveiling came two years after the right-wing network paid a record $787.5 million to settle a similar lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems.
The Smartmatic filings, like those from Dominion’s suit, are stuffed with internal Fox text messages, emails and other communications that paint a vivid picture of operations within the network in late 2020. And in the years since, the right-wing propaganda network has reshaped the incentives for its staff in ways that would make another such disinformation campaign more likely — and more potent — in the future.
Fox has solidified an incentive structure in which staffers are rewarded for propping up Trump and everything he does.
The filings show that Fox News executives and hosts, fearing an exodus of viewers angered by the network’s Election Night call of Arizona for Joe Biden, engineered a network “pivot” to promote Trump’s claims of election fraud. These included attacks on Smartmatic — even though they did not actually believe those claims to be true. Their deception helped create the environment for Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results, culminating with a violent mob of his supporters sacking the U.S. Capital on Jan. 6, 2021.
What stands out most as one sifts through the Smartmatic filings is that almost all the Fox employees shown enacting this “pivot” kept their jobs and were even promoted. While some have left the network over the past year, they did so to join Trump’s second administration. Meanwhile, those depicted as trying to stand up for facts were largely purged. With hindsight, it’s easy to see that since airing deceit after the 2020 election, Fox has solidified an incentive structure in which staffers are rewarded for propping up Trump and everything he does, while they risk consequences only for breaking with that edict.
The documents show Lachlan Murdoch, the CEO and co-chairman of Fox’s parent company, and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott supporting Fox News host Jeanine Pirro’s uncensored return to the network’s airwaves, a platform she used to push election conspiracy theories. After Murdoch’s father, Rupert, retired in 2023, Lachlan ascended to chair of Fox Corp., while Scott retained her position.
Host Jesse Watters, in a text message to fellow “The Five” co-host Greg Gutfeld revealed in the filings, wrote: “Think about how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went ALL in on STOP THE STEAL.” Fox subsequently promoted Watters and Gutfeld to host eponymous prime-time shows in the network’s weekday lineup.
Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, who plugged her show to Trump lawyer Sidney Powell as a “news” platform that would promote her conspiracy theories and urged her to “[p]lease please please overturn” the election, still hosts both of her programs.
Think about how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went ALL in on STOP THE STEAL.”
Fox News Host Jesse Watters to Greg Gutfeld, Dec. 5, 2020
Fox stars Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, who traded warnings about the post-election backlash against the network and criticisms of a Fox News reporter providing accurate information, both still have their shows. So does Bret Baier, who is shown in the documents pushing back against false election claims but subsequently urged Fox executives to reverse the Arizona call to quiet viewer discontent.
Pirro, who the filings show bragging to the sitting Republican National Committee chair about how she works “so hard for the President,” was subsequently promoted her to co-host of the weekday panel show “The Five.” She is no longer at Fox, but only because Trump appointed her U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Pirro followed in the footsteps of former “Fox & Friends Weekend” host Pete Hegseth. The current Secretary of Defense is in the Smartmatic filings being asked by Watters if he got “the memo about not saying fraud.”
The exception who proves the rule is Lou Dobbs, who texted Powell that he was “going to do what I can — to help stop what is now a coup d’etat” and saw his Fox Business show canceled in early 2021. The Smartmatic filings do show several Fox employees trying to provide viewers accurate information about the election results by pushing back against the Trump team’s conspiracy theories. But nearly all were subsequently fired or otherwise left the network, including “decision desk” leaders Chris Stirewalt and Bill Sammon, anchor Neil Cavuto and reporters Kristin Fisher and Leland Vittert. This obvious disparity sent a clear message to Fox’s employees: If you deviate from the MAGA script, you put your career at risk, but if you follow it, you will be rewarded. That incentive structure has echoed down through Fox’s coverage ever since, as the network hollowed out its “news” side, propped up Trump’s return to the leadership of the Republican Party and then the White House, and served as a megaphone for an administration stocked with former colleagues. Trump’s assault on the legitimacy of American elections is far from over. The president announced on Monday that he is planning to sign an “executive order” he claims would “end mail-in ballots because they’re corrupt.” While legal experts say that such a move would exceed his constitutional authority, Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election show how far he is willing to go. Like Dominion, Smartmatic may force Fox to pay a high price again for its 2020 election lies. But if Trump tries to mess with elections in 2026 and beyond, the network has signaled over and over its willingness to support him. Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, who plugged her show to Trump lawyer Sidney Powell as a “news” platform that would promote her conspiracy theories and urged her to “[p]lease please please overturn” the election, still hosts both of her programs.
Matt Gertz
Matt Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive research center that monitors the U.S. media. His work focuses on the relationship between Fox News and the Republican Party, media ethics and news coverage of politics and elections. 
