Rupert Murdoch To Be Deposed In Smartmatic Election Lawsuit Against Fox News

Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire founder of Fox News , is set to be deposed Tuesday as part of a lawsuit against the media company for lies it allegedly spread about the 2020 presidential election.

Murdoch is expected to sit for two days of questioning in the $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp. by the voting technology company Smartmatic, Reuters reported .

The lawsuit alleges Fox and a number of its hosts spread lies that Smartmatic somehow interfered in the 2020 election results. Named in the lawsuit are Fox News hosts Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo, former host Lou Dobbs, and former President Donald Trump ’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

Earlier this year, a similar lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems was resolved after Fox News agreed to settle for $787.5 million .

In a deposition for the Dominion lawsuit, Murdoch admitted under oath that Fox News hosts repeated false conspiracy theories regarding the election results. President Joe Biden won the 2020 election by more than 7 million votes, and in an Electoral College victory of 306 to 232.

“I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight,” Murdoch said of his network’s false election claims.

In February, a New York appeals court shut down an attempt by Fox to dismiss the Smartmatic lawsuit.