Fox News is facing yet another defamation lawsuit, this time from a man who claims that Tucker Carlson falsely labeled him as an undercover FBI agent responsible for the January 6th attack on the Capitol. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Superior Court, the same venue where Fox News recently settled a lengthy trial over defamation claims related to Dominion Voting Systems. The network paid a staggering $787.5 million to resolve the case.
The man, named Epps, voted for Donald Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 elections and believed that the latter was stolen from him. According to the lawsuit, Epps participated in the protest on January 6th but did not condone violence and left the grounds for his hotel. He did not enter the Capitol and has not been charged with a crime. However, Carlson continued to mention Epps and suggested that he was being protected by federal law enforcement.
The lawsuit accuses Fox News of using Epps as a “scapegoat” for the Capitol attack by spreading falsehoods about him over a “years-long” campaign. It claims that the network needed to deflect blame and maintain its viewers’ trust, which had been eroded due to perceived disloyalty to Trump.
In response to the lawsuit, a Fox News spokesperson did not provide an immediate comment. Meanwhile, FBI Director Christopher Wray, speaking at a congressional hearing, dismissed claims that Epps was a government agent and called it “ludicrous” to suggest that the FBI was involved in the Capitol attack.
Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.
