Raymond Epps, a former Oath Keeper member, said he was the target of conspiracies over his role in US Capitol attack
A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit alleging defamation by Fox News, ruling for a second time against a former supporter of Donald Trump who claimed he became the target of death threats after the network broadcast inaccurate conspiracy claims about his involvement in the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack.
Raymond Epps was wrongly accused by Fox of being a government operative who allegedly stirred violence around the Capitol that day in an effort to pin responsibility on supporters of Trump who were upset his first presidency ended in defeat to Joe Biden. According to Epps, formerly a marine and member of the far-right Oath Keepers group, the backlash from those reports led him and his wife to sell their ranch in Arizona and relocate to a recreational vehicle in an attempt to avoid the ongoing harassment.
Jennifer L Hall, a Delaware-based US district judge, ultimately sided with Fox by granting the network’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, concluding that Epps did not provide sufficient evidence showing Fox knowingly aired false information.
Wow. A lawsuit where I can’t root for either side.
That said, “knowingly” aired sure is a stretch. Did they also “knowingly” have any evidence that what they were airing was true? Or was it just a rumor they heard? Did they use the term “allegedly” during this airing? You can’t just make up crap about someone and not lose a libel* suit. Unless you’re Fox “News” I guess.
Note that he wasn’t suing over reporting that he was involved in Jan 6. He was suing because Fox reported that, “Epps, 62, was an undercover government agent who helped incite the Capitol attack to entrap Trump supporters.”
(Quote comes from story linked within the posted story.)
*libel might not be the correct term to use here. I don’t know what is.
It’s a jurisprudential oddity.
Two weeks from every verdict?
“I was not an undercover agent, just your run of the mill insurrectionist.”