Fox News apologizes to judge presiding over Dominion case: ‘This was a misunderstanding’

Blake Rohrbacher, the attorney for Fox News called the situation a ‘misunderstanding’ in a letter to the court

File. A worker passes a Dominion Voting ballot scanner while setting up a polling location at an elementary school in Gwinnett County, Ga., outside of Atlanta, on 4 January 2021 (Associated Press)

Fox News has apologised to the judge presiding over Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6bn defamation case against the channel.

Blake Rohrbacher, the attorney for Fox News called the situation a “misunderstanding” in a letter to the court and said that they “understand the Court’s concerns, apologise, and are committed to clear and full communication with the Court moving forward”.

According to local news reports, the apology from the news organisation came after a late-stage admission revealing Rupert Murdoch’s role as an officer at Fox News was addressed in court last week.

Dominion had accused Fox News of knowingly spreading false information about its voting machines in the wake of the 2020 presidential election in support of Donald Trump’s false claims that the election had been “stolen” from him.

Fox News had earlier insisted it was entitled to report the claims being made against Dominion.

Judge Eric Davis imposed a sanction last week against the network after it made “misrepresentations” to the court and potentially withheld evidence.

Mr Davis said that Fox had been “evasive” and “what do I do with attorneys that aren’t straightforward with me?” He also added that he would “most likely” appoint a special master to investigate.

“I’m very uncomfortable right now,” Mr Davis said. “I’m going to let you know, I’m very uncomfortable.”

Dominion said last week “we have been litigating based on this false premise that Rupert Murdoch wasn’t an officer of Fox News”.

In the letter to the judge, Mr Rohrbacher said Fox “never intended to omit information from earlier submissions to the Court or to fail to fully respond to the Court’s questions. This was a misunderstanding.”

“With regards to Dominion’s contention that it has been prejudiced, Fox disagrees and respectfully requests an opportunity to address and respond to that contention after Dominion seeks written relief from the Court,” the letter, however, notes.