A settlement has been reached in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and former host Lou Dobbs.
Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil filed the lawsuit in 2021 alleging statements made on Dobbs’s social media and by pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell on Dobbs’s Fox Business show defamed him by accusing the businessman of executing an “electoral 9/11” and helping change ballot counts in voting machines.
“The 2020 Election is a cyber Pearl Harbor: The leftwing establishment have aligned their forces to overthrow the United States government,” Dobbs wrote in a Twitter post.
According to Khalil’s complaint, as Powell appeared on one of his shows, the host asked, “You say these four individuals led the effort to rig this election. How did they do it?”
Dobbs and Fox’s attorney had unsuccessfully moved to have the case dismissed on First Amendment grounds last fall.
The Hill reported that lawyers for the two parties confirmed they had reached an agreement to resolve the matter, however, the financial terms of the agreement were not specified.
“This matter has been resolved amicably by both sides,” a Fox News spokesperson said when contacted Sunday by The Hill. “We have no further comment.”
Fox News network is separately fighting a $1.6 Billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over similar claims about the 2020 election made on its air. Fox has also argued the allegations made by Dominion are protected by the First Amendment.
“This case is and always has been about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute right to cover the news,” the network said in a recent statement about the Dominion case. “Fox will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press as we move into the next phase of these proceedings.”
The trial, which is slated to begin later this month will feature testimony from high-profile officials such as Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity.
American Liberty News previously reported that in a letter to Judge Eric M. Davis, lawyers for the cable news behemoth told the judge they intend to make Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity available to testify. They also named news anchors Bret Baier and Dana Perino. Additionally, they will call top executives and producers, including CEO Suzanne Scott, President Jay Wallace and Justin Wells, executive producer of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” in its defense.
