Advertisement

Fox News Producer Sues Network Claiming She Was Coached To Give Misleading Testimony In Dominion Case

Ted Johnson
·3 min read

A Fox News producer claims that she was “coerced” and “intimidated” by the network’s legal team into providing misleading and evasive testimony in a deposition in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case.

Abby Grossberg, who has worked on shows hosted by Maria Bartiromo and Tucker Carlson, also claimed that the network’s attorneys were trying to subtly shift “all responsibility for the alleged defamation against Dominion onto her shoulders and by implication, those of her trusted female colleague, Ms. Bartiromo, rather than the mostly male higher ups at Fox News who endorsed the repeated coverage of the lies against the Dominion.”

More from Deadline

Her suit was filed in federal court in New York and Delaware Superior Court, where Fox and Dominion are delivering oral arguments on Tuesday in the summary judgment phase of the case.

Grossberg also claims that she was retaliated against after she complained about unlawful harassment based on her gender and Jewish religion. She claims that she was subjected to the harassment by Alexander McCaskill and Justin Wells, producers on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

The lawsuit claims that she “was disregarded and ordered to return to work and face the same environment about which she had just complained, which she had made clear was causing her severe stress and anxiety. Ultimately, feeling ignored and unprotected by Fox News, and suffering from severe anxiety due to the unlawful treatment she received from her male supervisors and colleagues, Ms. Grossberg sought protected FMLA leave supported by her therapist.”

Fox News said in a statement, “Fox News Media engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review. Her allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and we will vigorously defend Fox against all of her claims.”

The network also filed a motion for a temporary restraining and preliminary injunction in New York Supreme Court, arguing against Grossberg’s release of attorney-client communications.

“Ms. Grossberg has threatened to disclose Fox’s attorney-client privileged information and we filed a temporary restraining order to protect our rights,” a Fox News spokesperson said.

In her complaint, Grossberg contends that during her deposition, she was presented with a text message exchange from Carlson to an unknown person and “was asked to read it aloud.” According to the complaint, the exchange contained statements from Carlson such as “Sidney Powell is lying. F–king bitch[,]” and “repeatedly referred to Ms. Powell as a ‘c–t.'”

“Ms. Grossberg was then asked whether what she just read made her feel ‘uncomfortable,’ to which she responded, ‘no,’ as she had been conditioned,” she alleged in her complaint.

“Ms. Grossberg was then asked how she would feel if that type of language was used by Mr. Carlson around her, or even directed towards her, and she responded – as she had been conditioned –that she had just started working with him and had not witnessed him use such language so she declined to speculate about how she would react,” according to her complaint.

In fact, according to her complaint, she”knew full well that Mr. Carlson was very capable of using such disgusting language about women. She also knew how terribly she had felt every time she had heard her prior male superiors and colleagues at Fox News spew misogynistic phrases at her (or within her earshot) on a constant basis. Ms. Grossberg also knew, however, and was conditioned to constantly remember that she could not do anything to jeopardize her new position, such as becoming Dominion’s ‘star witness,’ so she again kept quiet.”

More to come.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.