Ex-Fox producer alleges network wanted her to spy on Maria Bartiromo as Dominion case began
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday, former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg said that as the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit began against the network, she was asked by the higher-ups to spy on her boss, Maria Bartiromo.
Among the Fox hosts, Bartiromo, along with Judge Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs at Fox Business, were known for promoting the conspiracy theories that specifically cited Dominion.
As Grossberg walked through her experience in the Dominion suit and how she was coached to lie, she explained that she believed she and Bartiromo were being set up as he fall for the Fox scandal.
During her first meeting with the Fox lawyers, she brought up what she was experiencing with Carlson, "just to get on the record," she said.
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"I think it's important I didn't want to go to HR. I didn't trust them. This is a way of me setting a record with Fox. I start telling these things very early on. It seemed like they had a plan, and I screwed it up. It was not what they wanted to hear," Grossberg explained. "They were expecting me to, I think, be — they flat out said 'We expected you to be best friends with Maria.' We were very close, but by that point, we were disagreeing on the integrity of the election and what had taken place in 2020 and some other theories she had and there was definitely tension."
All of that is in the records that were turned over, she explained.
"There are records of all that I had been asked to spy on her by the Fox bosses and report back on what she was doing," said Grossberg. "Which caused a lot of stress. That was part of the reason I went to Tucker as well. I just physically and emotionally couldn't take it when I listen to some of those tapes that I have, I hear the stress in my voice and how depleted I was."
Wallace seemed shocked, "You spied on Maria for your Fox bosses?"
"Yes – I didn't spy. I would tell them what she was doing," said Grossberg. "If there were things that concerned me. Spy was the wrong word. In the past, we had a good relationship, and we could work it out. I reported those things. I became very paranoid about my job. I had been shaken down by multiple executives in the company. That was part of the reason I went to Tucker as well."
"Bigger star, safer harbor at the mothership?" Wallace asked.
"I wouldn't say bigger star. I felt like they would protect me," said Grossberg. "I felt like I wasn't protected where I was. Also, I was mindful of the fact she was named in the Dominion suit. That was something on my mind too. If I can get away before that happens, I'll be protected."
She went on to describe a strange way in which Fox was manipulating her, canceling her deposition with Dominion and then saying she canceled it when she didn't. They claimed they didn't want key documents and things she told Fox she had, like data from an old cell phone she got rid of due to a cracked screen in 2021.
Grossberg explained that at the start, Fox lawyers and executives believed the suit wouldn't go anywhere and were dismissive of her suggestions about other documents or things she had.
Then Fox made her feel "like a criminal," by making it seem like she kept information from them or was hiding information from them.
"I literally said to them take everything from me," she reiterated, offering up passwords to every social media account, email and phone. She began to ask for some of the imaging of her phone that was taken, which she said Bartiromo was given. They refused. Then they suggested she get her own attorney.
Once the Dominion motions revealed the text messages, Grossberg said she started to put things together and see the picture Fox was attempting to create. That's when she began to act against Fox.
See the clip of the interview below or at the link here.
Abby Grossberg 2 www.youtube.com