Fox News has formally apologized to the judge in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, referring to a “misunderstanding” over Rupert Murdoch’s role at the network and claiming it had “not meant to mislead the Court or evade the question” over his position, according to reports from CNN and ABC News.
The apology follows network lawyers’ repeated previous claims about Murdoch — who they said didn’t have an official role at Fox News — before an admission this past week that he was an officer at the network.
The reveal sparked anger from the $1.6 billion defamation case’s judge, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who sanctioned the network and looked to bring in a special master to investigate whether Fox made “untrue or negligent” claims in court.
Fox attorneys maintained last week that they did not withhold evidence from Dominion while Dominion, according to CNN, said the delay in revealing Murdoch’s role “may have narrowed what Fox turned over as part of the discovery process in the case.”
“We have been litigating based on this false premise that Rupert Murdoch wasn’t an officer of Fox News,” Justin Nelson, a Dominion attorney, told the judge.
Nelson noted that Murdoch had claimed not to be a Fox News officer at his deposition.
Fox attorney Blake Rohrbacher, in the letter dated Friday, said the network understands “the Court’s concerns” and it’s “committed to clear and full communication with the Court moving forward.”
“This was a misunderstanding,” Rohrbacher said in the letter.
Rohrbacher added in the letter that Fox “should have provided to the Court a complete and prompt response to the Court’s questions concerning the identities of all of Fox News’ officers. We apologize and never intended to avoid responding to a question from the Court.”
Elsewhere in the letter, Rohrbacher said that Fox “disagrees and respectfully requests an opportunity to address and respond” to Dominion’s claim that it had been “prejudiced.”
Opening statements are set to take place on Monday.
