Tampa Bay

Axios Tampa Bay

Cuban sandwiches and Hyde Park brunches are bringing the Fox News crowd to Tampa — and their presence could impact much more than our menus. 

Driving the news: "Fox and Friends" will broadcast live from Tampa's Goody Goody Burgers Wednesday morning, where co-host Brian Kilmeade will speak with diners about state news.

Tampa has also been featured on the news site's lifestyle section, with recent stories like influencer Rogan O'Handley's favorite spots in the city and a history of the Cuban sandwich featuring the Gonzmarts.  

Why it matters: Tampa is a blue city, so much so that Democratic Mayor Jane Castor doesn't have an opponent in today's election. But tides are turning, and a red wave could change Tampa Bay's political environment for good.

The big picture: Pinellas County, deeply Democratic for years, and Hillsborough County both flipped red this past November.

Hillsborough elected two GOP newcomers to replace popular Democrats as county commissioners and voted red for governor, senator, all statewide offices and in every close state legislative race.

In Pinellas, his home county, Charlie Crist lost his bid for governor by 10 points. And the board of commissioners flipped majority red after Democratic county Commissioner Pat Gerard, who ran unopposed in 2018, lost her race for a third term by 8 points to another fresh-faced Republican, Brian Scott.

Flashback: ​​Tampa was found to be the second-most desired place Republican college students want to live after graduation in last year's Axios-Generation Lab Next Cities Index. 

And thousands of young conservatives flocked to the Tampa Convention Center over the summer for Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, where speakers included Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr., and GOP lawmakers Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Rick Scott, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert.

What they're saying: Kilmeade tells Axios he's excited to return to Goody Goody after doing a segment at the restaurant in 2021. " The Tampa Bay voices and perspectives we heard in 2021 were so important, and we are looking forward to hearing from them again.”

The bottom line: With the influx of young Republicans, and now the mainstream Fox crowd, Tampa Bay may not be blue for much longer.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the correct pronoun for Pat Gerard, who is a woman.

Fox News tunes into Tampa Bay

Tides are turning, and a red wave could change Tampa Bay's political environment.

Illustration of the Fox News logo on a beach ball.

Local news

Dominion v. Fox News

News

Axios Tampa Bay, anchored by Ben Montgomery and Selene San Felice, is here to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news and developments unfolding in their own backyard.

National

Top hosts and executives at Fox News privately slammed former President Trump's election fraud claims as "total BS," according to court documents filed in Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox.

Why it matters: The filing argues that Fox "knew that Donald Trump lost the election" while "Fox viewers heard a different story— repeatedly."

What's happening: The voting machine company is seeking $1.6 billion in damages, and alleges the network knowingly spread misinformation about Dominion's role in nonexistent voter fraud.

Dozens of Fox News hosts, producers and senior executives are quoted in the court documents.

Fox said in a statement: "There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan."

Details: The redacted communications and testimonies from depositions take aim at Trump allies, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who spread conspiracy theories about Dominion machines.

Tommy Firth, a producer for Laura Ingraham's show, texted a Fox executive on Nov. 8, 2020: "This dominion sh*t is going to give me a f*cking aneurysm—as many times as I’ve told Laura it’s bs, she sees sh*t posters and trump tweeting about it."

Host Sean Hannity testified that "that whole narrative that Sidney [Powell] was pushing, I did not believe it for one second" — despite inviting her onto his show without challenging her claims, per the filing.

On Jan. 6, 2021, the filing says host Tucker Carlson texted that Trump is "a demonic force. A destroyer. But he's not going to destroy us."

Per the court document, Fox Corp. chair Rupert Murdoch told Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott: "It's been suggested our prime time three should independently or together say something like 'the election is over and Joe Biden won,'" and that such a statement "would go a long way to stop the Trump myth that the election stolen." 

Murdoch at one point called the baseless voter fraud claims "really crazy stuff" in a text.

Fox filed a separate counterclaim against Dominion, alleging that the company has no evidence to back its $1.6 billion claim for damages.

2023 02 16 Redacted Dominion Opening SJ Brief

Fox stars privately bashed election fraud claims the network pushed

The filing argues that Fox "knew that Donald Trump lost the election" while "Fox viewers heard a different story— repeatedly."

Photo of Tucker Carlson sitting at a desk while he hosts Fox and Friends

Tucker Carlson speaks during the 2022 Fox Nation Patriot Awards on Nov. 17 in Hollywood, Fla. Photo: Jason Koerner via Getty Images

Dominion- Fox News lawsuit

Economy & Business

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

A viral ad in which former Vice President Dick Cheney attacks former President Trump as a "coward" will begin airing on Fox News on Tuesday, a week before his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) faces a Trump-backed primary challenge, Axios has learned.

Driving the news: The ad, which initially aired solely in Wyoming, got so much attention that Cheney's campaign has decided to take it directly to Trump's favorite programs. The ad will air twice daily this week during "Fox & Friends" and once daily on Sean Hannity's prime-time show.

Why it matters: Polls show Liz Cheney — a fierce GOP Trump critic and the vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee — is in danger of being ousted by her Trump-backed opponent, Harriet Hageman.

But Cheney is playing the long game, potentially in preparation for a 2024 presidential run.

The ad depicts Cheney as a "fearless" defender of the Constitution who is willing to take on Trump at a time when Republicans continue to embrace him.

What they're saying: "It’s important not only for Fox News viewers, but for the network’s hosts and top executives, to hear former Vice President Cheney’s warning about the ongoing danger Donald Trump and his lies pose to our constitutional republic," Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler tells Axios.

The elder Cheney, donning an "I voted sticker" and a cowboy hat, tells viewers:

"In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election and he lost big. I know he knows it and deep down I think most Republicans know it. 

Lynn and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what's right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so. 

Liz is fearless. She never backs down from the fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office, and she will succeed. I am Dick Cheney, I proudly voted for my daughter and I hope you will too."

Former Vice President Dick Cheney in "He Knows It" ad

Scoop: Viral Cheney ad to air on Fox News

The ad got so much attention that Liz Cheney's campaign decided to take it directly to Fox News.

Screenshot of Dick Cheney in an ad via YouTube

Liz Cheney

Former Attorney General Bill Barr has been subpoenaed as part of Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox News.

Why it matters: Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages against Fox News, arguing that the network knowingly spread misinformation about the company's role in nonexistent voter fraud. 

Barr, who resigned in December 2020, has said that former President Trump's false claims about the 2020 election fueled his decision to cut ties.

At the Jan. 6 committee's first prime-time hearing, the panel aired a closed-door video of Barr's deposition in which he said, "I told the president it was bull***t. I didn't want to be a part of it."

What they're saying: "We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs," Fox News Media said Monday in a statement to Axios.

Worth noting: Dominion has also filed to subpoena Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who recently testified during a Jan. 6 committee hearing about how Trump pushed him to find cases of fraud despite lack of evidence.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with a statement from Fox News Media.

Bill Barr subpoenaed in Dominion's defamation suit against Fox News

Dominion argues the network knowingly spread misinformation about the company's role in nonexistent voter fraud.

Photo of Bill Barr speaking against the backdrop of the DOJ seal

Then-Attorney General William Barr speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 21, 2020. Photo: Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Media

2020 election

A judge ruled Tuesday that Dominion Voting Systems can move ahead with a lawsuit against Fox News' parent company over its broadcasts of conspiracy theories alleging the 2020 election was rigged, Bloomberg reports.

Why it matters: Fox Corp. had asked the judge to dismiss the suit, but Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said Dominion's allegations "support a reasonable inference that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch either knew Dominion had not manipulated the election or at least recklessly disregarded the truth when they allegedly caused Fox News to propagate its claims about Dominion."

Davis also pointed to a statement in Dominion's suit that detailed Rupert Murdoch's call with Trump days after the election. Murdoch "informed him that he had lost," the judge said.

The big picture: Davis also rejected Fox News' request to dismiss a separate lawsuit filed by Dominion.

Judge rejects Fox News parent's request to dismiss Dominion defamation suit

Dominion can now move ahead with its lawsuit over Fox News' broadcasts of election conspiracy theories.

Photo of a phone screen showing Fox News' website and Donald Trump's picture

Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Fox News

Donald Trump

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

Fox News, one of America's most powerful media companies, earlier this month agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, related to false statements made about Dominion on Fox's air.

Oral history: What follows is an edited transcript of an exclusive interview with three of Dominion's key players, including its CEO, private equity owner and outside attorney on the Fox case.

They discuss Dominion from founding to the 2020 election to now, including death threats, loss of customers and the post-settlement firing of Tucker Carlson.

John Poulos, CEO of Dominion Voting Systems: We founded the company in 2003. The first check was from my sister for $50,000. We survived and grew in the following years, really relying on friends and family.

By the time we got to 2017, heading into 2018, two things happened: One was the friends and family were looking for an exit. We hadn't distributed anything, not even a dollar to our investors, even though we had grown substantially.

So we hired an investment bank in late 2017. They identified a number of interested parties, one of which was a strategic that wanted to buy 100% of the equity. We weren't interested. As part of that process, I met Hootan.

Hootan Yaghoobzadeh, co-founder of Staple Street Capital: I remember the first dinner we had with John. It became very clear that he had a very clear road map to transform his company and take it to another level.

Poulos: We executed the transaction in mid-2018. Me and my leadership staff kept our same stake in the company, but we replaced our friends and family.

Yaghoobzadeh: Dominion had a phenomenal reputation in the marketplace. We did a survey and Dominion had double the net promoter score of its main competitor.

The company was founded in Toronto, and relocated its headquarters to Denver in 2010 after some acquisitions.

Poulos: One of the goals in 2018 was we wanted to have a U.S. buyer be the control interest of Dominion, which we accomplished with [New York-based] Staple Street.

We had a phenomenal two and a half years, pretty much as soon as that transaction closed. The word of mouth from customers that had switched to Dominion and gone through implementation cycles was providing feedback to other jurisdictions, so not only were we able to refresh our existing customer base but we were also capturing new market share going into November 2020.

Yaghoobzadeh: Management grew the business by 4.5 times. But once the defamation happened, the world collapsed for us.

Dominion machines being tested in Michigan in July 2022.

Dominion machines being tested in July 2022 by Michigan election workers. Photo : Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Image.

Poulos: We had obviously heard a lot of talk about the absentee ballots. But really it was Nov. 8 when we got the first view of, "Wow, they are really unfairly targeting Dominion."

Yaghoobzadeh: It was the Maria Bartiromo show when she had Sidney Powell on. I was in absolute shock.

I'm an immigrant to the country. I came here when I was five from Iran. My parents kind of just fled over a weekend, right around Iranian Revolution, because we were Jewish and fearful of persecution. They saw a revolution happen in that country and they decided to leave.

So my parents showed up on my doorstep after watching Maria's show. They were just real fearful; they saw the first signs of seeds of that happening here, and somehow their son was responsible for it.

They were pleading with me, "How do we get out of this country?" It took some conversations to calm them down, but it was sort of nostalgic and reminiscent of those of those days and I think that really gave us the backbone to stand up ... and make sure the record gets set straight.

Fox host Maria Bartiromo and Trump attorney Sidney Powell.

Maria Bartiromo (left) and Sidney Powell (right).

Poulos: We thought we were prepared and the fact is we were completely unprepared. Never in our wildest dreams did we anticipate this happening.

We had an employee getting a noose thrown on their front lawn. We had very detailed death threats that would be called in with employees' specific addresses.

Most of our employees were helping election officials. In a lot of cases that was in the field. That's a very difficult task in the best of times. In this case, it was just unbelievably difficult.

We did speak with our employees fairly regularly. We did so with video verification Zoom calls to alert them of what we knew and what we didn't know and what we were doing about it. And part of what we were doing was hiring a third-party security company for monitoring active threats. It was very, very scary.

Yaghoobzadeh: We were just in disbelief the entire period of time and it was impossible to anticipate what to expect the next day. The record was being set straight for them, but they continued to double down and triple down, we said OK, they're putting their head in the sand.

There were so many egregious comments that were being made so vacantly, just so wrong that there was just no feasible way that any of this stuff could be true. Crazy claims like Hugo Chavez and computers in Spain.

Stephen Shackelford, partner at Susman Godfrey LLP: We were involved in numerous different litigations after the election trying to fend off the false claims of fraud from people like Sidney Powell. So we were deep into all this and saw what was happening to Dominion.

We connected a few days before [January 6, 2021] for the first time with John and Hootan and began discussions about coming on board to lead the legal challenge. The main thing we felt was these are really good people and they're going through hell.

Poulos: January 6th didn't really impact [our decision to sue].

Shackelford: At the point we started talking to Dominion, they were already in the process of filing cases. They had more cases they were considering, including the Fox case that ultimately they filed when we came on board in March. We saw it as an opportunity to do something that could be important more broadly, not just for our client, but for the country as a whole.

Protesters storm the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Poulos: It was immediate. I had customers calling in the middle of procurement saying, "Boy, there's no way that I could buy from you." We saw customers that had initiated their renewals prior to the defamation and were in the last stages of the formal approval. After the defamation, as soon as December 2020, they had their funding pulled by their boards.

Shackelford: They had longtime customers that wouldn't talk to them, wouldn't let them send people on site anymore.

The momentum kept building and we've seen it all the way up until the eve of the Fox trial. Dominion has had people canceling contracts early in the contracts, in the middle of contracts, which had never happened before in this way.

Yaghoobzadeh: We really had to worry about, and continue to worry about, employee retention. It's tough to convince someone to come and work in a company that's being accused of treason. The main asset of the company that we bought, its reputation, turned out to be the biggest liability. It was toxic and it was contagious.

Poulos: When a significant portion of the population, regardless of whether they are in a red or blue state, believe what they saw on their trusted media stations, it’s almost impervious to objective truths.

Shackelford: There were a lot of smoking gun documents in the case. For instance, the Rupert Murdoch text about when he was watching the Nov. 19 press conference and saying that was terrible stuff. He knew the truth and yet his enormous asset, Fox News, kept broadcasting the lies. The Tucker Carlson texts where it took him no time at all to figure out that the software stuff was absurd.

It was obvious to everybody that this was crazy and we expected to see internal acknowledgment that this was crazy and false. And that's what we ended up seeing in the end.

Rupert Murdoch and Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch in 2018. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Yaghoobzadeh: We made sure that all the attorneys understood that settlement was like a curse word. We didn't want to talk about it.

Our strategy was to go to trial, get to a verdict and accomplish three goals, which were to make sure the truth got exposed, kept Fox accountable, and that we were compensated for the damages they inflicted.

Shackelford: We had a court-ordered mediation in December, although I don't want to answer any questions that would put us crossways with the confidentiality of that process.

The best thing they could have done, which they still could do, is to go on to all their shows where they broadcast these lies and, in a believable way that's not like a hostage video, tell their audience the truth. And maybe things might have been somewhat different had they done that at any point, let alone early on.

On Friday, April 7, the court encouraged one last effort at mediation.

Yaghoobzadeh: Even though we were kind of reluctantly brought to the table as a result of the judge's urging, we took the judge's urging very seriously, and made sure we were always acting in good faith.

Shackelford: I knew a little bit of this about the discussions, but I was not involved and didn't think it was a realistic possibility. My focus was to do the opening statement.

Poulos: I was more working with Shack on the opening. Hootan was really leading the settlement charge on the side. He had asked me early on what our company goals were, and we were 100% aligned. Honestly, that never changed from Day One.

Yaghoobzadeh: It came down to the wire. The ingredients that we were looking for in terms of those three factors that we discussed, sort of lined up.

Shackelford: As a way of proving that I never thought this case was going to settle, I had family in from all over to come watch the opening statement

When I went back in the courtroom at 1:30 on Tuesday, I fully expected that they would bring the jury back in and start opening statements. I was sitting at my desk, council table or pacing around and I had a feeling that there were discussions going on, but I had no idea whether things were close until a couple of hours had passed. At least at that point I knew I wasn't gonna open today.

Dominion attorneys speak to the media after settlement is announced.

Shackelford and other Dominion lawyers talk to reporters after the settlement was announced.  Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

Judge Eric Davis stunned the Delaware courtroom by announcing the two sides had reached a settlement. Soon, it was disclosed that Fox would pay Dominion $787.5 million, with Fox publicly acknowledging that the court had found it to have aired false statements. Fox did not make that acknowledgment on its air, nor did it apologize.

Days later, Fox News fired its top-rated prime-time host, Tucker Carlson, many of whose private messages were redacted in pre-trial discovery.

Yaghoobzadeh: I think the consequences of the entire strategy that we pursued are starting to reflect themselves.

Shackelford: Dominion did not insist on them firing Tucker Carlson as part of the settlement. But the very fact that that's what resulted out of all of this, and it's traceable from the work that Dominion and Staple Street set in motion, that's the sort of stuff Hootan is talking about.

Of course I know what’s in the redacted stuff and I can't say anything about it. ... I hope that it all gets un-redacted at some point. 

Yaghoobzadeh: These results are much more profound than some disingenuous apology or forced statement that would not have any credibility, or would have been disingenuous from actors that have had a track record for making statements that are disingenuous.

For us to have a meaningful impact, we had to make sure that we got that rock moving. These other things, I guess we fundamentally disagree on what change they would have actually created.

Tucker Carlson at a golf event with former President Trump and Rep.  Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Tucker Carlson at a July 2022 golf event with former President Trump and Rep.  Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Photo: Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images.

Maria Bartiromo continues to host a daily show and weekend show for Fox, often featuring top business executives.

Yaghoobzadeh: I just don't know how informed every Fortune 500 CEO is to the lack of journalistic standards that were used in that initial broadcast. And if they're deciding to go on that show after understanding all that information, I'm not one to judge these things but I certainly wouldn't go on that show.

Dominion has pending defamation lawsuits against One America News, NewsMax, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell and Patrick Byrne. None is expected to reach trial before 2024.

Poulos: As we said from the beginning, we're seeking accountability and we're not going to stop until we get it. We have six more cases and we are completely aligned as we have been from the beginning.

Shackelford: [The Fox lawsuit] should send a big signal to the other defendants that we are serious about exposing the truth, and we are serious about accomplishing full compensation and justice for Dominion.

We expected [Fox] to fight tooth and nail and to pull out all the stops, and they did. The scariest part of what they did trying to rewrite First Amendment law just to save Fox's hide in a way that was completely, in my view, disingenuous and dangerous.

Poulos: We've been robbed of our ability to grow on the trajectory that we were on, so we've been focused [on] just trying to keep servicing our customers, making a safe place for employees to continue to work.

Dominion CEO John Poulos speaking to reporters after the settlement.

Dominion CEO John Poulos speaking with reporters after the settlement. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images.

There have been questions about if Dominion employees will get a cut of the settlement, in addition to the lawyers, private equity owners and management.

Poulos: I think it's all of the above. Hootan and I have not really had a chance to discuss it, but we've both gone on record as saying this means something to everybody.

We certainly hope that it provides longevity to us to be able to take away some of the short-term worry that our customers have about Dominion and our employees. It's a relief but, as I've said many times there have been a lot of emotions for me, but happy is not one of them.

false statements made about Dominion on Fox

lawsuits against One America News, NewsMax

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Exclusive: Dominion Voting Systems tells its Fox News lawsuit story

After reaching a settlement with Fox News for $787.5 Million, Dominion Voting Systems speaks exclusively with Axios.

Photo illustration of the US Capitol, Fox News logos, US flags and Dominion Voting's logo.

Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photos: Spencer Platt, Samuel Corum, Brendan Smialowski/AFP, Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Staple Street Capital bought Dominion Voting Systems in 2018, with a $38 million equity check and an $80 million enterprise value. It might have been the best private equity deal ever.

Driving the news: Dominion yesterday agreed to drop its defamation lawsuit against Fox News, in exchange for $787.5 million.

The settlement came just as opening arguments were set to begin, with high-profile witnesses like Rupert Murdoch waiting in the wings. 

Fox News acknowledged in a statement that the court found that it aired false claims about Dominion, but it did not apologize. The settlement does not require Fox News or anchors like Maria Bartiromo to tell on-air viewers about the falsehoods.

By the numbers: Denver-based Dominion will be required to pay taxes on its windfall, plus give a hearty portion to attorneys. But this is still a massive amount of cash for a company of its size.

Dominion currently generates around $45 million in annual EBITDA, up from $10 million in 2018, according to comments this morning from Staple Street co-founder Hootan Yaghoobzadeh on CNBC. 

In terms of revenue, Forbes once reported that Dominion generated $118.3 million for the three-year period between 2017 and 2019.

Fox Corp. has just over $4 billion of cash on hand, and may have an insurance policy that helps it defray some of the settlement costs.

Look ahead: Yaghoobzadeh told CNBC that settlement proceeds will be distributed to shareholders, adding that Dominion management and employees "own a very significant stake in the business."

Dominion also has pending defamation lawsuits against right-wing cable news networks Newsmax and One America News (OAN), plus against Overstock.com founder and former CEO Patrick Byrne, pillow magnate Mike Lindell, Rudy Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell. 

Fox News, meanwhile, remains subject to a $2.7 billion defamation complaint brought by election tech company Smartmatic. It also was recently sued by a former producer for allegedly trying to manipulate her pre-trial testimony in the Dominion case, and some shareholders reportedly are agitating for more records related to the Dominion situation. 

The bottom line: Staple Street had a growth plan for Dominion, which the EBITDA increase indicates was successfully executed. But what moved this from a decent private equity deal into an all-timer were Fox's lies and Dominion's insistence on getting payback.  

Fox News settlement turns Dominion into private equity gold

Staple Street Capital paid just $38 million to buy Dominion in 2018.

Illustration of lady justice with an “I voted” stickers blindfold over her eyes

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

Fox News settled with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday for over $787 million in what would have been a historic defamation trial in a Delaware court. 

Why it matters: The 11th-hour settlement protects Fox executives from having to possibly testify in court about their role in the network's airing of 2020 election lies.

Details: "The parties have resolved their case," Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said to the jury around 4:00 p.m., ET, more than two hours after opening statements for the trial were slated to begin. 

In a statement following the settlement decision, Fox News acknowledged that the court found that it aired falsehoods which could have implications for other defamation cases it faces.

Fox News reaches 11th hour settlement with Dominion for over $787 million

Fox faces several other defamation lawsuits — notably Smartmatic's $2.7 billion case.

All Dominion v. Fox News stories

Fox News tunes into Tampa Bay

Fox stars privately bashed election fraud claims the network pushed

Scoop: Viral Cheney ad to air on Fox News

Bill Barr subpoenaed in Dominion's defamation suit against Fox News

Judge rejects Fox News parent's request to dismiss Dominion defamation suit