Former Trump supporter's January 6 defamation lawsuit against Fox News tossed by federal judge
The IndependentSign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. United States District Judge Jennifer L. Hall granted the right-wing network’s motion to dismiss Ray Epps’s case on Wednesday, agreeing that he had failed to prove that Fox News had committed “actual malice” against him. The dismissal of Epps’s defamation suit against Fox News follows the conservative cable giant’s victory in similar cases recently brought by former Biden disinformation chief Nina Jankowicz and Hunter Biden “whistleblower” Tony Bobulinski. Epps, a one-time fervent Trump supporter and “loyal” Fox News viewer, said his life had essentially been “destroyed” by the conspiracy theories of him helping the fed concoct a “false flag” on January 6. In its motion to dismiss, Fox News argued that the lawsuit should be “dismissed for failure to state a claim,” noting that Epps had become a “limited purpose public figure” due to his involvement in the Capitol riots and that Carlson’s “statements did not have precise meaning or convey objectively verifiable facts.”