Former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg has escalated her lawsuit against the network, adding CEO Suzanne Scott as a defendant and accusing Fox’s lawyers of deleting messages from her phone. In her original lawsuit, Grossberg claimed that Fox lawyers pressured her to give false testimony in the Dominion Voting Systems’ case. Grossberg now alleges that Scott was complicit in the coercion. Fox News has denied the allegations, stating that the lawsuits are “riddled with false allegations” and that its lawyers acted appropriately. The network fired Grossberg after she initiated the litigation.
Grossberg worked for Maria Bartiromo during the 2020 election cycle, and some of the comments made on Bartiromo’s show are at the center of Dominion’s defamation case against Fox. Jury selection for the case started on Thursday in Delaware. Fox News maintains that it never defamed Dominion and argues that the lawsuit undermines press freedoms in the United States.
In her amended complaint, Grossberg also accuses Fox’s lawyers of deleting messages from her phone. She claims that when she received her phone back from Fox’s legal team, certain messages between her and Bartiromo were missing or appeared to have been deleted. The issue of potentially missing or withheld evidence is significant in the Dominion case. A judge recently sanctioned Fox for withholding key material, including audio recordings of Bartiromo speaking off-air with Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.
Fox News denies withholding any evidence from Dominion and says it only learned about the existence of the recordings when Grossberg mentioned them in her recent lawsuits. A Fox spokesperson stated that the recordings were produced within 15 days of the network’s discovery.
Grossberg’s decision to add Scott as a defendant was criticized by Fox News, with the network calling it a “publicity stunt.” A spokesperson for Fox stated that Scott had no interaction with Grossberg during her employment and had nothing to do with her deposition preparation.
Dominion plans to call Grossberg as a witness in its case against Fox News. Scott, the Fox News CEO, is expected to testify at the trial. Emails made public in the Dominion case revealed that Scott expressed concern in 2020 that debunking Donald Trump’s false claims about election rigging was “bad for business” for Fox News. Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, also sent emails to Scott criticizing Trump’s election denialism and blaming him for the January 6 insurrection.
In conclusion, Abby Grossberg has escalated her lawsuit against Fox News, accusing CEO Suzanne Scott of complicity and the network’s lawyers of deleting messages from her phone. The Dominion case continues with jury selection, and Grossberg is expected to testify as a witness. Fox News denies the allegations and maintains that it never withheld evidence from Dominion. The trial will shed further light on the relationship between Fox News and the Trump administration during the 2020 election.
Original Story at www.cnn.com – 2023-04-14 07:00:00