Former FBI general counsel says more lawsuits are probably coming for Fox News over election lies

In a conversation with Stephanie Ruhle on Monday, former FBI general counsel, Andrew Weissmann, suggested that "more" charges might be coming "on the criminal side" for Fox News.

Speaking to Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday, he focused more on the idea of legal consequences that Fox News could face as a company.

Among the details revealed Monday in the court filings from Dominion Voting Systems were communications showing that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch only cared about money regarding the lies around the 2020 election.

"I just want to underscore just how serious this is," said Andrew Weissmann. "I remember Adam Schiff (D-CA) after the first impeachment was asked about what was going on and comparing it to Watergate and he said if Watergate happened now, it wouldn't be the same result. Why? Because of Fox News. And that gives you a sense of just how powerful they are in spinning their audience and riling them up."

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He compared the election lies and distortion of the facts to the 2016 Russian disinformation campaign that the special counsel team investigated for nearly two years.

"This is an American company," he continued. "An American news organization that is peddling misinformation with truly deadly consequences that could have been far worse. But if you're people who were attacked on Jan. 6, if you are election workers who are threatened, you have to be reading this saying, your goal is of money, as Rupert Murdoch said, of 'green', it caused me damages. So you can imagine this is not going to end with just Dominion bringing these suits. You could imagine other people seeing this evidence, saying, 'I was harmed by what they were doing out of greed.'"

Two of those people Shaye Moss and "Lady" Ruby Freeman faced death threats and other attacks from supporters of former President Donald Trump as a result of conspiracy theories that were spread through conservative media. Moss explained while testifying before Congress that people pushed their way into her grandmother's house demanding to conduct a "citizen's arrest" of Moss and Freeman. The FBI ultimately told the two that they needed to relocate for a time to protect themselves from the dangers.

"I don't know that there would be a class action" lawsuit, Weissmann said. "But you could imagine election workers, Ruby Freeman saying, you know what, the people who really riled people up, who incited all of this knowingly, that is the key, are from Fox News. The people on Jan. 6 who were cowering in Congress, who were really afraid that people who were attacked, the people who died, all of those people have potential claims against Fox News. And it is not like this is unforeseen. It is not like the people in Fox news had no idea that their really dangerous rhetoric was going to lead to this kind of violence. Now there are a lot of issues when you bring a case like this, in terms of showing intent, showing causality, etc."

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He went on to recall an excerpt from Rupert Murdoch's communications highlighting the "green" and say that it is when deciding damages in a case.

"You could imagine how that is going to play to a jury that is saying, yes, and we're going to take that 'green' incentive away from you when they consider not just the sort of compensatory damages, how Dominion was hurt in terms of its pocketbook, but they get to also decide punitive damages which is what is the additional amount of money that is going to send a message to Fox News and anyone else who is going to engage in this kind of disinformation campaign," explained Weissmann.

Weissmann also said that it is a fundamental issue that will ultimately have to be addressed in news among the network and others that knowingly spread false information.

"We're really dealing with a network that is comparable, not identical but comparable to the Russian disinformation that we investigated for 22 months and frankly that disinformation campaign from Russia led to criminal charges," he said. "So, you know, this is really serious because of what it undermines in terms of our democracy."

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