A Delaware judge called a request from Dominion Voting Systems for performance reviews of Fox News host Tucker Carlson “too intrusive.”
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday Judge Eric Davis said at a discovery hearing as part of the company’s lawsuit against the network that reviews are “about as personal as it gets.”
The outlet noted Dominion believes the reviews of Carlson and other hosts would support its argument that the network “maliciously booked former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell to appear on its top-rated shows, where they spread false claims that the company rigged the 2020 presidential election.”
Dominion is also reportedly requesting reviews of Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Davis criticized Fox News for asserting attorney client privilege to dodge disclosing other information the company is looking for. The information includes whether the network had joint-defense agreements with Giuliani, Powell and the chief executive officer of MyPillow Inc., Mike Lindell, as Bloomberg reported.
“The existence of a joint defense agreement is not privileged,” Davis explained. “We all know that’s not true.”
Dominion filed the $1.6 billion lawsuit in March, arguing the network “sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process.”
Responding to the lawsuit, Fox News officials said in a statement, “FOX News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court.”
ABC News noted the complaint was the fourth in a series of lawsuits issued by the company. Additionally, Dominion suggested Fox News promoted the “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched” claims as part of an effort to “lure viewers back.”
The complaint continued, “Fox recklessly disregarded the truth. Indeed, Fox knew these statements about Dominion were lies.”