Fox News won its second defamation lawsuit in as many days after a federal judge in Delaware on Wednesday dismissed claims by a former Trump supporter that former host Tucker Carlson acted “with real malice” when he said he was lobbying for the government during January. 6 rebellion.
The suit was brought in July 2023 by Ray Epps after Carlson made him the target of one of his conspiracy theories. Months later, however, Epps was indicted, correcting that baseless theory. Epps would later plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct on unlawful grounds and was granted probation.
Despite Carlson’s claims about Epps, defamation cases are difficult to overcome. Judge Jennifer Hall agreed that while Carlson may have been “subpar journalism,” it did not rise to the level of malicious intent, according to the report. The New York Times.
As further evidence of Epps’ fight, Fox’s lawyers previously defended Carlson in a defamation case by arguing that viewers should not take him for who he is.
The right-wing network approved the reform on Wednesday, referring to two of its more recent legal victories.
“Following the dismissal of the Jankowicz, Bobulinski, and now Epps cases, FOX News is pleased with the reversal decisions from the federal courts to protect journalists’ First Amendment freedoms,” a spokesperson told the Daily Beast.
On Tuesday, a New York judge dismissed a contempt charge against Jessica Tarlov and one of the House Republicans’ witnesses in their botched bid for Biden.
And in the summer, another defamation suit was dismissed. It was filed by Nina Jankowicz, the former head of the Biden administration’s interim Disinformation Governance Board within the Department of Homeland Security. Jankowicz said the network “continues to push lies about me to tens of millions of viewers,” resulting in threats of violence and harassment.
Fox, which settled a defamation suit last April with Dominion Voting Systems for $7.5 billion, is still facing a $2.7 billion defamation suit with voting company Smartmatic.