Ray Epps Sues Fox News for Defamation Citing Tucker Carlson Labeling Him a 'Fed'

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Jul. 13, 2023

Ray Epps filed a lawsuit against Fox News on Wednesday alleging the network defamed him by falsely labeling him an undercover federal agent.

"In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party," the lawsuit states. "Eventually, they turned on one of their own, telling a fantastical story in which Ray Epps -- who was a Trump supporter that participated in the protests on January 6th -- was an undercover FBI agent and was responsible for the mob that violently broke into the Capitol and interfered with the peaceful transition of power for the first time in this country's history."

"Fox knew it needed a scapegoat for January 6th that would help absolve itself and would appeal to its viewers," the suit continued. "It settled on Ray Epps and began promoting the lie that Epps was a federal agent who incited the attack on the Capitol."

"And with that, Fox, and particularly Mr. Carlson, commenced a years-long campaign spreading falsehoods about Epps. Those lies have destroyed Ray's and [his wife] Robyn's lives. As Fox recently learned in its litigation against Dominion Voting Systems, its lies have consequences."

It seems like Epps wants to cash in on the Fox News gravy train. Dominion got a $787.5 million payout in April and just two weeks ago producer Abby Grossberg got a $12 million settlement out of them.

If Epps is not a fed -- and so far no hard evidence has been produced that he is -- I think he actually has a better case than either of them. The way Tucker Carlson declared Epps to be a fed over and over again without any qualifiers was frankly just bizarre, especially considering Fox News has entire legal teams just to avoid getting into situations like this. He could have made all the same claims and just included the word "allegedly" and he and Fox News most likely would have been protected.

Instead, Carlson just shot from the hip (which we're now seeing is also the norm with his new Twitter show).

That said, opinion journalism is supposed to be protected by the First Amendment.

Fox News' lawyers were absolutely correct when they defended Carlson in another lawsuit (which they won) by claiming his whole show should be interpreted as opinion and even the "facts" he cites should not be taken literally.

From NPR, "You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers":

Tucker Carlson appears to be made of Teflon. [...] Just read U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil's opinion, leaning heavily on the arguments of Fox's lawyers: The "'general tenor' of the show should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not 'stating actual facts' about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in 'exaggeration' and 'non-literal commentary.' "

She wrote: "Fox persuasively argues, that given Mr. Carlson's reputation, any reasonable viewer 'arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statement he makes."

Vyskocil, an appointee of President Trump's, added, "Whether the Court frames Mr. Carlson's statements as 'exaggeration,' 'non-literal commentary,' or simply bloviating for his audience, the conclusion remains the same — the statements are not actionable."

Vyskocil's ruling last week, dismissing a slander lawsuit filed against Carlson, was a win for Fox, First Amendment principles and the media more generally, as Fox News itself maintains. As a legal matter, the judge ruled that Karen McDougal, the woman suing Carlson, failed to surmount the challenge.

There's a solid chance Epps' case would be won by Fox News if they fought it out in court (and the same went for the Dominion and Grossberg cases) but it seems like they don't want to risk getting hit with comically astronomical judgements -- such as the $1.5 billion judgement against Alex Jones -- and would prefer to just settle with their many accusers and move on.

It remains to be seen how long they'll be able to afford these endless shakedowns.

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