Fox News Files Motion to Dismiss Suit Over Discredited Article on DNC Staffer
September 19 2017 - 4:03PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
Fox News and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, have filed a
motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit from a contributor who
claimed he was misquoted in an article about the murder of a
Democratic National Committee employee.
The defamation suit was filed in New York federal court earlier
this summer by Rod Wheeler, a former Washington, D.C., homicide
detective and Fox News contributor. It alleged he was misquoted to
bolster a conspiracy theory that DNC staffer Seth Rich was murdered
in retaliation for leaking sensitive emails to WikiLeaks regarding
Hillary Clinton's presidential run.
Mr. Wheeler, who had been retained by the Rich family as an
investigator, alleged in his initial complaint that the Fox News
story made up two quotes and attributed them to him.
In court filings this week to dismiss the lawsuit against the
network, its parent company and Malia Zimmerman, the author of the
article, Fox's lawyers argue that Mr. Wheeler's claims are without
merit. The court documents allege that Mr. Wheeler wasn't misquoted
or defamed, that he reviewed and didn't object to a draft of the
article that included the quotes before it was published, and that
he made similar statements in television interviews.
Fox claims that Mr. Wheeler said in an on-air interview with a
local TV station that he had sources saying there was information
that could link Mr. Rich to WikiLeaks. Mr. Wheeler said in that
interview that information about DNC interference in the murder
investigation would "come out tomorrow," allegedly referring to the
impending Fox News story, according to the court documents.
"He made substantially the same statements on the air in several
on-camera interviews before and after the Fox News report," the
court filing states. "His defamation claim itself is founded on a
falsehood."
Regarding the Fox News article, the company's lawyers also said
in the motion to dismiss that they had evidence Mr. Wheeler
"confirmed in writing that he was reviewing a draft containing
those quotes before he provided additional quotes for the
story."
Fox News retracted the article after a backlash over its
veracity, saying the piece didn't receive proper "editorial
scrutiny." Mr. Rich was killed last July in Washington in what
police believe may have been a botched robbery.
Mr. Wheeler had claimed that White House officials were kept
apprised of the story as it was developing earlier this year and
that President Donald Trump saw a version of it before publication
on the Fox News website. Mr. Wheeler argued that the article was
designed to advance a political agenda for the Trump administration
by providing an alternative narrative for those disputing that
Russia hacked the DNC and interfered with the election.
Mr. Wheeler's complaint said he had received messages from Fox
News contributor Ed Butowsky -- who had connected the former D.C.
detective to the Rich family -- saying that the president had read
the piece and "wants the article out immediately."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has
previously said Mr. Trump wasn't aware of the article and that the
White House had no involvement.
Mr. Butowsky was also sued by Mr. Wheeler in his Fox News
defamation complaint, in part for suggesting on Twitter that Mr.
Wheeler wasn't telling the truth when he denied making the
statements attributed to him by Fox News.
21st Century Fox and Wall Street Journal-parent News Corp share
common ownership.
In a separate motion to dismiss, lawyers for Mr. Butowsky argue
that he shouldn't be sued in New York because he lives in Texas,
that he wasn't involved in "the drafting or making of the
defamatory statements," and that the incident didn't amount to
"actual malice."
The Fox News court filing also said Mr. Wheeler is arguing his
case in the wrong forum as his contributor contract calls for all
disputes with the company to be settled through arbitration. The
lawyers claim that includes his accusation that he was
discriminated against and deprived airtime and the same
compensation as white colleagues because he is black. Fox News has
denied the charge.
"Fox's effort to compel this legal proceeding into a
confidential arbitration process is an attempt at keeping people in
the dark on what now is a matter of serious public concern," Mr.
Wheeler's lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, said Tuesday. "We are confident
that our client will ultimately be vindicated in a public court of
law."
Mr. Wigdor, who has filed several other claims against the
network for clients alleging sexual misconduct and discrimination,
has said at various times that the discredited story, along with
allegations that Fox News turned a blind eye to a culture of sexual
harassment at the network, is cause for British regulators to block
21st Century Fox's efforts to acquire majority ownership of British
pay-TV giant Sky PLC.
In court documents, the company argues that allegation about the
bid for Sky and the accusation that the original article was part
of an attempted coverup relating to the Russian involvement in the
DNC hacking are "irrelevant" and "should be ignored."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 19, 2017 15:48 ET (19:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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