Fox News Sued by Former Donald Trump Supporter Over Tucker Carlson's January 6 Conspiracy Theory
Tucker Carlson may be costing Fox News more money even after he was fired as his January 6 conspiracy theories have led to a defamation lawsuit from a former supporter of Donald Trump whom the controversial host accused of being a government "plant" and inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
That Trump supporter is former US Marine Ray Epps, who was at the Capitol during January 6, supporting Trump's false claims that the elections were stolen. However, Tucker Carlson said during his primetime Fox News program, "Tucker Carlson Tonight," that he was a federal agent who instigated the violence on January 6.
However, NPR pointed out that Carlson never presented any evidence that Ray Epps was a federal agent, nor did he present any evidence to support his claims that Epps started the riot.
"In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party," said the lawsuit.
"Eventually, they turned on one of their own, telling a fantastical story in which Ray Epps - who was a Trump supporter that participated in the protests on January 6th - was an undercover FBI agent and was responsible for the mob that violently broke into the Capitol and interfered with the peaceful transition of power for the first time in this country's history," it continued.
While Carlson was the one who initiated the story, other Fox News hosts like Laura Ingraham and Will Cain also picked up the story and helped spread the conspiracy theory.
Tucker Carlson Ignored Evidence That Ray Epps Did Not Instigate the January 6 Riot
This is the latest time that Fox News got sued, with the network famously being forced to pay Dominion Voting Systems hundreds of millions of dollars in its defamation suit after presenting evidence that Fox hosts knew that Donald Trump was lying about the election results.
Ray Epps is following Dominion's tactic and has even filed the lawsuit in the same Delaware court where Dominion sued Fox. His lawsuit alleged that Carlson ignored evidence that contradicted the claims he made on air.
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According to the Associated Press, this includes Epps's testimony before the House Select January 6 Committee, as well as the videos provided by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to Carlson that showed the former marine was actually trying to defuse the situation and not escalate it.
While Carlson was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Epps's lawyer, Michael Teter, noted that Carlson "was an employee of Fox when he lied about Ray, and Fox broadcast those defamatory falsehoods." The attorney then concluded that because of this, the conservative network is liable for its then-host's comments.
Former Trump Supporter Claims Fox News Destroyed His Life After Tucker Carlson's Conspiracy Theories
In his complaint, Epps claimed that the conspiracy theories presented by Fox News have "destroyed" his and his wife, Robyn's lives, according to CNBC.
The former marine and wedding venue operator has previously said that he and his wife were forced to sell their home in Arizona and give up their wedding business to move to Utah for their safety.
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Capitol rioter files defamation suit against Fox News, Tucker Carlson - NBC News
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