Fact Check: Did Tucker Carlson Testify 'Under Oath' That Trump Didn't Win?

Tucker Carlson's sudden exit from Fox News on Monday has led to inevitable speculation as to whether the network's Dominion lawsuit settlement had anything to do with his departure.

Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million after the voting tech company sued the broadcaster for claims related to the 2020 election, including that its personalities promoted former President Donald Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen and that ballots cast through Dominion machines were "flipped" from Trump to President Joe Biden.

It was anticipated that Carlson would have been questioned under oath had proceedings continued, having been named by Dominion among the hosts that, it claimed, shared "defamatory falsehoods."

In the lead-up to the lawsuit, allegations were made that Carlson had testified under oath that he did not believe Trump lost the election.

The Claim

A tweet by user @DecodingFoxNews, posted on March 7, 2023, viewed more than 475,000 times, claims that Tucker Carlson "testified under oath" that he did not believe Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

"Tucker Carlson has testified under oath that he did not believe "The Big Lie" that Trump won the 2020 presidential election," @DecodingFoxNews tweeted.

"There is documentation that proves he said this under oath. Tonight he repeated the lie that the election was stolen. Fox News lies to its audience."

The Facts

Carlson's public comments about Trump were broadly supportive throughout the former president's time in office and after he left the White House.

Last year, Trump and Carlson were pictured together at an LIV golf tournament where the crowd chanted to the Fox News host and others "Let's Go Brandon," a disguised insult aimed at President Joe Biden.

That relationship was been brought into question following the release of multiple Carlson communications provided for the defamation lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems.

The now-settled lawsuit—which accused Fox News of knowingly amplifying false defamatory claims that Trump was the real winner of the 2020 election and Dominion's voting machines were rigged—led to the release of texts from Carlson about Trump.

An exchange between Carlson and an unnamed recipient sent on January 4, 2021, stated that the host hated Trump "passionately" and couldn't wait for the day he wouldn't have to talk about him on air.

Referring to Trump, Carlson said: "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.

"I truly can't wait.

"I hate him passionately. I blew up at [former Trump adviser] Peter Navarro today in frustration. I actually like Peter. But I can't handle much more of this.

"He was pushing voting fraud stuff. I have no doubt there was fraud. But at this point, Trump and [pro-Trump lawyers] Lin [Wood] and [Sidney] Powell have so discredited their own case, and the rest of us to some extent, that it's infuriating. Absolutely enrages me.

"That's the last four years. We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn't really an upside to Trump."

While the disclosure of the papers provides an interesting insight, there is no verifiable evidence that Carlson went as far as to say that he did not believe Trump's election claims.

Newsweek has read an excerpted and redacted copy of Carlson's deposition that does not show he thought Trump was lying about the results of the 2020 election. However, the redactions are significant, and from what Newsweek has seen, there are still pages of testimony missing.

During the deposition, Carlson said that he had "not seen proof that Dominion Voting machines were rigged" but did claim to "have seen evidence that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election."

So, whether or not he spoke truthfully about his thoughts on the 2020 election is simply not a matter of public record.

As reported by The New York Times, while private texts from Carlson suggested there was doubt about election fraud claims, such as those circulated by Powell, whether the messages amount to evidence that Carlson didn't believe Trump won is a matter of interpretation.

Newsweek spoke to Juliet Jeske, who is behind @DecodingFoxNews, to explain where they'd heard about Carlson's claims under oath.

Jeske provided links to a number of articles that included statements by Dominion lawyer Stephen Shackelford, who claimed that Carlson said they did not believe the claims they made about Dominion.

For example, a December 2022 article in The New York Times quoted Shackelford, reporting: "'Many of the highest-ranking Fox people have admitted under oath that they never believed the Dominion lies,' he [Shackelford] said, naming...Mr. Carlson.

"Mr. Shackelford described how Mr. Carlson had 'tried to squirm out of it at his deposition' when asked about what he really believed."

However, these were all claims made by Shackelford. While a video by @DecodingFoxNews posted on March 9, 2023, raises the point that if Shackelford was "lying" then "Fox could prove he was lying pretty much immediately," we don't know if Shackleford's description of Carlson's deposition is fair or accurate.

Jeske also mentioned how Carlson had said Powell was "lying" about having evidence of election fraud.

"Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It's insane," Carlson wrote to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on November 18, 2020. Several days later, he called Powell "a nut" and told his colleague he had to "try to make the [White House] disavow her, which they obviously should have done long before."

However, even if Carlson thought Powell lied that does not necessarily mean he did not believe that the election was stolen. Again, as stated in his deposition, Carlson claimed he had "seen evidence that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election."

It's worth noting that Fox News accused Dominion of cherry-picking quotes from its hosts to build a stronger case in court, although it has not denied the authenticity of the communications.

"Thanks to today's filings, Dominion has been caught red using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press," Fox previously said. "We already know they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but to twist and even misattribute quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly beyond the pale."

Dominion also provided Newsweek with a cache of other court documents, none of which explicitly say (based on testimony or primary evidence) that Carlson didn't believe Trump won the 2020 election.

In any case, there is not enough publicly available evidence to support the claim that Carlson made a statement under oath about Trump not winning the election.

During his run on Fox News, Carlson broke viewership ratings records, and millions of people tuned in for his take on the news and politics.

Carlson's exit is the second major departure for Fox News following the Dominion settlement.

On Thursday, Dan Bongino announced he was leaving the network. He had hosted Unfiltered With Dan Bongino on Saturday nights since 2021. Fox said it would also cease streaming Bongino's radio show on Fox Nation.

Newsweek emailed Fox News for comment.

The Ruling

Unverified.

Judging by Tucker Carlson's deposition in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, there doesn't appear to be verifiable evidence that shows he said under oath that Trump didn't win.

While communications from Carlson suggest he might have at some point doubted the notion that Trump won the 2020 presidential election, none of the messages definitively show that he thought Trump lost.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team