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Fox News is taking legal action against one of its top producers named in the Dominion case, in an effort to silence her as she files multiple discrimination suits against the network.
In a Monday complaint filed in the Supreme Court of New York, Fox News alleged that Abby Grossberg, a senior producer and head of booking for Tucker Carlson, has threatened to publicly disclose privileged conversations she had with Fox News lawyers in advance of her own September 2022 deposition in the Dominion defamation case.
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Grossberg’s threats, the network wrote, have forced Fox to seek a court order silencing her.
Parisis G. Filippatos, the attorney representing Grossberg, wrote in a statement to Confider: “Having just received and read Fox News’ frivolous attempt to silence Abby Grossberg, we are happy that the full story regarding her case will now be heard by three separate courts in each of which we are confident she will receive the justice she deserves and certainly the fair treatment which she hasn’t experienced thus far from her employer Fox News.”
“Ms. Grossberg has threatened to disclose Fox’s attorney-client privileged information and we have filed a temporary restraining order to protect our rights,” a Fox spokesperson emailed Confider.
Later on Monday evening, the New York Times reported the details of Grossberg’s two lawsuits against Fox News, filed in Delaware and New York. Among the many claims laid out in both documents, Grossberg claimed that prior to her deposition in the ongoing Dominion lawsuit, she was “coached by and intimidated by” Fox lawyers to give testimony she now regrets—an effort, she said, to get her and her former boss Maria Bartiromo to take the blame. Grossberg further alleged the ordeal was indicative of a discriminatory and misogynistic culture within the network.
Grossberg worked on Bartiromo’s weekend show during the 2020 election and was among those who received the “wackadoodle” memo from “Kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell, written by a self-described “ghost” woman, that served as the basis for some of the baseless election-fraud claims Fox News aired.
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Grossberg was deposed by Dominion last fall and testified that the memo, which Powell sent along and used for her claims on TV, “isn’t something that I would use right now as reportable for air, no.”
At the same time, Grossberg “knew what Powell would say on air on November 8,” according to Dominion’s recent brief, and was aware at the time of the thin sourcing of her claim.
According to Grossberg’s lawsuit, Fox brass openly dismissed Bartiromo as a “crazy bitch” who was “menopausal.” Additionally, upon joining Carlson’s show last year, Grossberg wrote, she encountered a misogynystic bro culture, with frequent jokes about Jews and lewd remarks about female public figures including Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
After complaining about sexual harassment by two male Carlson producers, the lawsuit continued, Grossberg said she was brought into a meeting with HR representatives who told her she was not adequately performing her duties.
In a statement to the Times, a Fox spokeswoman said the network “engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review. We will vigorously defend these claims.”
—Justin Rohrlich contributed reporting.
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