Fox News is facing a new defamation lawsuit from a protester at the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots who said the network falsely identified him as an FBI informant.
Ray Epps, who now lives in Utah, was repeatedly described by then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson as a federal agent who helped instigate the insurrection on the Capitol that attempted to stop the certification of the election of President Biden.
Carlson made the comments on his program over a period of nearly two years and in a series called “Patriot Purge” that streamed on Fox Nation in 2022, according to Epps’ lawsuit. The falsehoods about Epps were referenced by other commentators on the network, the complaint said.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in a Delaware federal court said Fox aired the false and defamatory statements about Epps with “actual malice with knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth or falsity.” Epps is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A representative for Fox News had no comment on the lawsuit.
The suit is the latest legal headache for Rupert Murdoch’s conservative network, which in April paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation claim made by Dominion Voting Systems.
The company said Fox News aired false statements about Dominion when covering former President Trump’s charges of fraud in the 2020 election. Fox News faces a similar $2.7 billion suit from voting machine software maker Smartmatic.
Fox News recently paid $12 million to producer Abby Grossberg to settle her lawsuit claiming discrimination and a hostile workplace while working for Carlson. Grossberg was also the producer for anchor Maria Bartiromo, a major offender in the Dominion case.
Carlson left Fox News on April 24, a day after a report on Ray Epps aired on “60 Minutes.”
(Fox News)
Epps was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was a staunch supporter of former President Trump and an avid viewer of Fox News.
But Epps, who testified under oath to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack by Trump protesters, denied any involvement with the FBI, which has also stated publicly that he had no association with the bureau.
Epps testified that he has never worked for the government or any other law enforcement agency at the time. Still, Carlson persisted in describing Epps as a principal in what he described as a false flag operation in which the government incited the riot that occurred that day, an unfounded conspiracy theory.
Epps said the false statements on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” once the most-watched prime-time program on cable news, had a devastating effect on him and his wife Robyn.
“Ray and Robyn received threatening voice mails, emails, and text messages because of Mr. Carlson’s lies about Epps,” the suit stated. “People began driving past their farm brandishing weapons and shooting onto their property.”
On an April 23 edition of the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes,” Epps went public with how the false claims by Carlson had caused emotional distress, ruined his Arizona-based business and led to death threats.
The following day, Fox News pulled Carlson’s top-rated program from its prime-time schedule. Carlson remains on the Fox News payroll and cannot work for another media outlet while he is still under contract, although he has attempted to do an occasional program on Twitter that has generated far less attention.
“Fox knew it needed a scapegoat for January 6th that would help absolve itself and would appeal to its viewers,” according to the suit. “It settled on Ray Epps and began promoting the lie that Epps was a federal agent who incited the attack.”
Epps said the information he took in from Fox News inspired him to attend the protests by Trump supporters who believed the election was rigged. He is seen on video encouraging demonstrators to march with
him and enter the Capitol. He is seen going past a police barricade into a restricted part of the Capitol grounds.
“When Fox, through its on-air personalities and guests, told its audience that the 2020 election had been stolen, Epps was listening,” the suit said.
According to reports, Epps may still be indicted for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot.
Carlson insisted to viewers that Epps was the central figure in the Jan. 6 riot, but was removed from the FBI’s most-wanted list and never charged. When the Jan. 6 committee stated that Epps did not work for the FBI, Carlson told viewers the committee was lying.
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