The crisis engulfing Fox News over their 2020 election coverage continues to worsen as the network and one of its producers filed lawsuits against each other on Monday over the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit.
The producer, Abby Grossberg —who has worked with Fox hosts Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo— says in her filings in New York and Delaware that before giving a September deposition in Dominion’s $1.6 billion suit over false 2020 election claims, she was coached in “a coercive and intimidating manner” to protect executives and on-air talent.
In response, Fox filed a complaint in the Supreme Court of New York seeking to block Grossberg’s claims, The New York Times reported.
“Ms. Grossberg has threatened to disclose Fox’s attorney-client privileged information and we filed a temporary restraining order to protect our rights,” the network said in a statement.
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Parisis G. Filippatos, an attorney for Grossberg, told the Times that later on Monday, his client had been placed on forced administrative leave.
“Having just received and read Fox News’ frivolous attempt to silence Abby Grossberg, we are happy that the full story regarding her case will now be heard by three separate courts in each of which we are confident she will receive the justice she deserves and certainly the fair treatment which she hasn’t experienced thus far from her employer Fox News,” Filippatos said.
A spokesperson for Fox said the network had hired lawyers to investigate Grossberg’s claims, which it labeled false.
“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,” the spokesperson said in a statement, according to The Hill. “Her allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and we will vigorously defend Fox against all of her claims.”
Dominion in 2021 filed suits against a number of individuals and corporations it says knowingly spread baseless accusations about its voting machines and the 2020 election in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s loss.
