Fox News Host Tucker Carlson declared in a text message that he passionately hates former president Donald Trump.
That scornful text message was revealed in court papers for a defamation lawsuit against Fox News at around the same time that Trump hailed Carlson on social media for presenting excerpts of the security video footage of the January 6 insurrection.
The revelation also came to light during surging tensions between the former president and Fox News, the most dominant conservative news network.
Dominion Voting Systems, the company which manufactured the voting machines used in the 2020 elections, filed a lawsuit against Fox News, seeking $1.6 billion in damages, alleging that the network helped to spread false claims that Dominion was responsible for 2020 election fraud.
Some documents related to the network’s actions after the elections have been released to the public before the case goes to trial this spring.
One common theme is that many Fox News executives and hosts did not believe election fraud claims as Trump and his allies claimed. They, however, aired their opinions and emphasized the claims despite their doubts.
The Fox News network was allegedly worried about the declining viewership after they declared Biden the President-elect, which turned away Trump supporters.
The court documents reveal conversations between Carlson and an unidentified person on January 4, 2021, where the host expressed his hatred and anger towards Trump. Carlson sent a message saying that he couldn’t wait for the day when they could ignore the former president.
Thorough investigations conducted by federal and state officials, courts, and Trump’s own Attorney General found no evidence of widespread election fraud. However, Trump continues to falsely state that he was the rightful winner.
Carlson also said there was nothing good to show for Trump’s four years as president, but they couldn’t admit it publicly because it would be hard for his followers to swallow.
Fox News responded to the court documents saying Dominion was using misinformation and distortions in a smear campaign against the network.
Trump snapped back at Fox earlier this month after other court documents showed that many Fox executives and hosts did not believe there was widespread election fraud in 2020.
