Fox News host Sean Hannity and Fox Business host Lou Dobbs will be deposed in a legal fight brought by the parents of murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. They claim the cable news network and two other defendants intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon them by spreading conspiracy theories about their son.
The two on-air talents will answer questions under oath next month, according to a recent court filing, which was first reported by the Daily Beast.
Rich was murdered at the age of 27 on July 10, 2016, in what authorities say was a botched robbery. Conspiracy theorists seized upon Rich’s murder and spread the baseless rumor that he was the source of the stolen Democratic emails obtained by WikiLeaks and that his death was a politically motivated hit job.
Fox News published a story written by reporter Malia Zimmerman, which was later retracted, linking Rich’s murder with the WikiLeaks emails. “The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting,” Fox News said at the time of the retraction. “Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.”
Hannity, who had promoted the story on his show, said he “retracted nothing” in May 2017. Dobbs also promoted Zimmerman’s story. Hannity is scheduled to be deposed on Oct. 30, while Dobbs’s will take place on Oct. 7.
Other network employees who will be deposed include some executives. Senior Vice President Bill Sammon, Fox News President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace, and Senior Executive Vice President Irena Briganti, as will Zimmerman and former Fox News guest Ed Butowsky, who paid a private investigator to look into Rich’s death, will be deposed.
The network’s counsel refused to make prime-time host Laura Ingraham, who attacked the media for their “aggressive lack of curiosity” about Rich’s murder after Zimmerman’s story was published, available for deposition, according to the Daily Beast.
“Fox’s counsel said yesterday that they would refuse to allow one of those employees (Laura Ingraham) to be deposed,” the document reads.
Fox News did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
The Rich’s case against Fox News was previously dropped, but a federal appeals court reinstated it last year.
