Fox News has fired the producer who filed a lawsuit last week alleging she was forced to give false testimony to Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation lawsuit.
Former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg expanded on her initial complaints in amended lawsuits filed in Delaware and New York on Monday. She claimed that Fox News lawyers told her to testify in her deposition in a way that would "inculpate" her and host Maria Bartiromo while "exculpating... certain blame-worthy male colleagues."
The complaint claims that Ms. Grossberg's deposition testimony, which was produced by Fox News, put Ms. Grossberg and Ms. Bartiromo directly in the center of the Dominion/Fox Litigation so they could be used as scapegoats and sacrificed female lambs.
In March 2021, Dominion sued Fox News for $1.6 billion, alleging that the network deliberately spread rumors about the maker of voting machines in the wake of the 2020 election in an effort to boost ratings and keep viewers.
This Monday, Grossberg filed two complaints against the network, charging it with creating a "toxic environment that victimizes women."
The former producer now says in the lawsuit that she "will never testify on behalf of Fox News" and that she "will only testify — if at all — on behalf of Dominion," leaving up the possibility of appearing at trial on behalf of Dominion.
According to a statement released by Fox News in response to Grossberg's latest complaint on Monday, "Like most organizations, FOX News Media's attorneys engage in privileged communications with our employees as necessary to provide legal advice. Last week, our attorneys advised Ms. Grossberg that, while she was free to file whatever legal claims she desired, she was in possession of our privileged information and was not authorized to disclose it publicly."
"We were clear that Fox would take necessary action, including termination if she disobeyed our orders," the statement said. “We will continue to zealously defend Fox against Ms. Grossberg's unjustified legal claims, which are filled with unfounded accusations against Fox and our employees. Ms. Grossberg ignored these communications and chose to file her complaint without taking any steps to protect those portions containing Fox's privileged information.”
Grossberg claims in the Delaware case that she was denied the ability to examine or amend the transcript of her deposition despite requesting so at least six times. She says, "Her testimony may not be entirely truthful."
Regarding one of Ms. Grossberg's responses that were utilized in Dominion's public filings, the complaint claims that she "attests that she would have reacted differently had she not been conditioned and intimidated by the Fox News Attorneys."
According to the updated lawsuit, Grossberg, a producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight, claims that following her deposition by Dominion attorneys, she informed Fox's counsel "that Mr. Carlson's name had come up, but that she protected him." Grossberg specifically claims that during her deposition she was provided a text message in which Carlson used the "C word" to refer to Trump-backed lawyer Sidney Powell, which she claims she falsely claimed did not concern her.
The complaint makes reference to Alexander McCaskill, Carlson's senior producer, and claims that he "stated he was delighted with the responses she had given and that they order the team lunch to celebrate her defense of Mr. Carlson's misogynistic-laden messages that were presented to her."
However, the complaint claims that Grossberg was "conditioned to constantly remember that she could not do anything to jeopardize" her position on Carlson's staff, so she again kept quiet, despite the fact that she "knew full well, largely based on public information, that Mr. Carlson was very capable of using such disgusting language about women in the workplace."
Grossberg was allegedly let go from the company on Friday in "yet another thinly veiled act of revenge," according to the complaint.
"Fox News terminated Ms. Grossberg's job when it understood that it could not prevent Ms. Grossberg from stating her truth to the world in her immutable "public filings" through intimidation, obfuscation, or pointless attempts at judicial intervention," as stated in the complaint.
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