Fox's own news clips disprove their defamation defense of Maria Bartiromo: Former FBI agent

Part of Fox News' legal defense for the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems is claiming that Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo sincerely believed the conspiracy theories being pushed by far-right attorney Sidney Powell that voting equipment around the country was being rigged.

But Fox's own segments provide evidence against this, argued former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa on Wednesday's edition of MSNBC's "The Beat" — particularly a segment in which Powell claimed that she had evidence of fraud coming in like it was "through a fire hose," and Bartiromo actually pushed back, responding, "Do you have hardware in your possession? How will you prove this?" And yet continued to broadcast the claims anyway even after Powell refused to provide the proof she asked for.

"My understanding is that Fox intends to present Maria Bartiromo as an example of someone who was not acting with actual malice because she may have actually believed these claims," said Rangappa. "And that clip ... sort of suggests that she's pushing back. I think the problem for Fox is—"

"Just to clarify, you're saying that she's credulous, she did believe the claims?" asked anchor Ari Melber.

"That is Fox's position," said Rangappa.

"Just to be clear for viewers, she's the one saying, oh, it's nonsense, it's kooky absolutely," Melber said.

"Right, and that cuts against Fox's position," said Rangappa. "I think Fox's position is weak. They come up with documentation that she may have been legitimately believing it, but it doesn't actually undercut the legal standard, which is what a lot of them were doing, it's a reckless regard for the truth. It's being told what you're saying is a lie and going forward with it anyway. Recklessness is the standard. And I think even beyond Maria Bartiromo, what you see is people very clearly admitting that they don't believe any of this, all the way to the top, and they're airing it anyway."

"What I think is really the most puzzling part of this is, why Fox hasn't settled as all of this damning information is coming out," continued Rangappa. "And I think part of it is that, Ari, the audience for not watching your show. They're not going to see that montage you put together. They are in their little bubble. I think Fox may understand that if they were to settle, they would have to, as a part of the remedy, say all the claims they were making were false. I mean, that's part of how you correct for defamation. And they might be terrified of doing that, because we now know that the inmates are running the asylum at Fox, it's the audience that is running the show."

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Asha Rangappa destroys Fox News' defamation defense www.youtube.com