Former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell, a leading figure in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, filed a brief seeking to dismiss Dominion’s $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit on March 22, on the grounds that “no reasonable person would conclude” that the election lies she pushed “were truly statements of fact.”
On March 23, Fox “straight news” anchor Bret Baier reported that Powell had walked back her “allegations of voter fraud,” noting that the attorney argued the claims were meant to be taken as “her opinions and not fact.” But Baier failed to mention that Powell appeared on Fox News and Fox Business multiple times after the election to spread those false claims, usually being welcomed with open arms.
In addition to Powell's appearances on Fox, many Fox personalities previously amplified her lies about Dominion voting, as detailed in a Media Matters study in January.
One of the most prominent Fox personalities embracing Powell’s claims was Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, who like Baier is ostensibly on the “news side” of Fox. On the November 15 edition of Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures, Powell promoted the lies in an interview with Bartiromo, saying, “I never say anything I can't prove.”
(Fox host Tucker Carlson was at one point skeptical about Powell’s claims, but later hosted MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell -- whose company is Carlson’s largest advertiser -- to push many of the same conspiracy theories; in fact, Powell is one of Lindell’s main sources.)
Powell and Fox News are being sued by Smartmatic over a similar “disinformation campaign.”
