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A lawyer for Ray Epps, the person on the heart of a outstanding conspiracy concept in regards to the Capitol riot, despatched a letter on Thursday to the Fox Information host Tucker Carlson demanding that he publicly retract his “false and defamatory statements” that Mr. Epps had labored as a authorities provocateur on Jan. 6, 2021, and helped to instigate the mob assault.
The letter to Mr. Carlson from the lawyer, Michael Teter, additionally demanded a “formal on-air apology for the lies” which were “unfold about Mr. Epps” by others at Fox.
“The fanciful notions that Mr. Carlson advances on his present relating to Mr. Epps’s involvement within the Jan. 6 rebellion are demonstrably (and already confirmed to be) false,” Mr. Teter wrote. “And but Mr. Carlson persists along with his assault on the reality.”
Letters looking for retractions and apologies are sometimes despatched when legal professionals are getting ready to file a defamation lawsuit. As Mr. Teter famous, Mr. Epps’s calls for come as Mr. Carlson and different high figures at Fox are already below strain from a $1.6 billion defamation swimsuit introduced by Dominion Voting Programs accusing them of amplifying lies that the voting machine firm was concerned in a weird plot to steal votes from President Donald J. Trump in the course of the 2020 election.
In a sequence of current filings, Dominion revealed embarrassing textual content messages and emails swapped by a number of main Fox staff exhibiting that in non-public they dismissed the concept the corporate was concerned in voting fraud, although they supported the notion in public. The interior communications additionally steered that Fox’s company management permitted lies in regards to the election to be unfold on the community to be able to hold scores excessive and viewers watching.
Fox Information v. Dominion Voter Programs
Paperwork from a lawsuit filed by the voting machine maker Dominion in opposition to Fox Information have make clear the talk contained in the community over false claims associated to the 2020 election.
“Current revelations from the Dominion Voting lawsuit might assist clarify why Fox Information has allowed the falsehoods about Mr. Epps to proceed to unfold, and be amplified, by way of its community,” Mr. Teter wrote. “However worry of shedding viewers by telling them the reality isn’t a protection to defamation and false mild.”
A spokeswoman for Fox didn’t instantly reply to a message looking for remark.
Mr. Epps, a former Marine, traveled to Washington from his residence in Arizona to help Mr. Trump and was videotaped on the evening earlier than the assault urging individuals to go contained in the Capitol. He was additionally within the crowd on Jan. 6 transferring previous barricades exterior the constructing, though he by no means went inside and in the end sought to de-escalate tensions within the mob.
Nonetheless, he turned the face of the conspiracy concept that the federal authorities had instigated the Capitol assault for a single cause: He was by no means charged for what he did on Jan. 6. In actuality, prosecutors declined to file costs in opposition to hundreds of people that had breached the barricades exterior the Capitol however by no means entered the constructing.
Mr. Carlson was one of many first main figures within the information media to present the tales about Mr. Epps a large viewers. In the end, they have been additionally echoed by Republican members of Congress like Consultant Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
Mr. Carlson featured Mr. Epps on his present on Fox once more this month in a section primarily based on tens of hundreds of hours of Capitol surveillance video footage, to which Speaker Kevin McCarthy granted him unique entry. Mr. Epps appeared solely briefly on the present, which broadly sought to minimize the occasions of Jan. 6 and falsely paint the Capitol assault as a largely peaceable gathering of “sightseers.”
Mr. Teter mocked Mr. Carlson in his letter, suggesting that the TV host was attempting to have it each methods.
“Oddly, Mr. Carlson now additionally espouses the view that these rioters have been akin to peaceable vacationers,” Mr. Teter wrote. “This results in the plain query: Is Mr. Carlson now accusing Mr. Epps of frightening peaceable protests?”
Mr. Teter’s letter requested that Mr. Carlson and Fox ship written affirmation that they supposed to adjust to Mr. Epps’s calls for by March 31. The letter additionally requested Fox to protect all communications regarding the community’s association with Mr. McCarthy and about any dealings that Fox or Mr. Carlson may need had with Darren Beattie, the proprietor of an internet site known as Revolver Information, which revealed early tales about Mr. Epps.
The letter additionally famous the prices that Mr. Epps and his spouse had confronted by being the goal of a conspiracy concept. After the false tales began gaining traction, the couple offered their home and enterprise in Arizona and went into hiding in a cell residence within the Rocky Mountains.
“Mr. and Mrs. Epps have been subjected to threats, intimidation and harassment, leading to important financial and emotional damages,” Mr. Teter wrote. “Every time Mr. Carlson and Fox Information spreads extra misinformation about Mr. Epps, the hurt redoubles.”
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