Fox News hires new legal counsel in defamation case with Dominion

Fox Information has included a new law firm as part of its authorized group in its combat with Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing the cable news giant for defamation just after it aired fake statements about voter fraud pursuing the 2020 election.

Fox has hired Dan Webb, a veteran protection lawyer and large-profile law firm, as section of its legal crew as it moves to have the circumstance brought by Dominion dismissed.

Webb is the previous United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and was the particular counsel investigating the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s. Far more just lately, he was appointed to provide as special counsel investigating how officers in Chicago dealt with a case involving actor Jussie Smollett.

Webb’s “vast experience in trial litigation will insert depth to our authorized group, guaranteeing the safety of the Very first Modification and the fundamental correct to a no cost press stay intact,” Fox reported in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday.

Late final thirty day period, a Top-quality Courtroom Judge in Delaware denied a movement from Fox Corp. to dismiss the accommodate, stating Dominion had adequately revealed Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, who own and run Fox News’s mum or dad business, may well have knowingly allowed unproven claims about voter fraud to be aired on the channel.

In a courtroom filing, Dominion argued the Murdochs “decided to endorse previous President Trump’s narrative just after Trump’s condemnation of Fox damaged its inventory and viewership.”

Fox’s lawful team has sought to have the situation dismissed on First Amendment grounds, arguing several of the false promises about voter fraud aired by the community were made by company on the channel.

“Limiting the skill of the press to report freely on the American election system stands in stark distinction to the liberties on which this country was launched,” Fox claimed in a assertion on Wednesday, introducing it was “confident we will prevail in this scenario as the Initially Amendment is the basis of our democracy and independence of the push will have to be safeguarded.”

Fox is also going through a lawsuit from a separate voting programs company, Smartmatic, around equivalent claims about voter fraud. Equally Dominion and Smartmatic have sued other smaller sized cable information channels, such as A single The usa Information and Newsmax, about promises produced on these networks about the organizations and their computer software.