Fox News asks judge to dismiss renewed defamation lawsuit filed by man at the center of Jan. 6 'false flag' conspiracy

Source: Law & Crime

Jan 11th, 2025, 12:59 pm


Fox News wants a federal court to put an end to an Arizona man’s lawsuit over comments made by Tucker Carlson about his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

James Ray Epps, in a series of increasingly escalating legal maneuvers, accused the network’s now-former talking head of painting him as an agent provocateur who “helped stage-manage” the abortive insurrection on behalf of the federal government as protests devolved into chaos. The plaintiff claims Carlson essentially promoted a conspiracy theory that bad-jacketed him as a government plant. Such allegations are often referred to using the sub-term “fed-jacketing” in various online political discussion spaces.

What started out as a request for an apology from the host using a lawyer’s letter quickly morphed into a full-blown defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Epps lost that battle in November when a federal judge appointed by President Joe Biden determined the plaintiff had failed to prove that Carlson had acted with “actual malice.”

In December 2024, Epps asked federal court for permission to re-plead his case with an amended complaint. Fox, of course, pushed back. In turn, the court directed the network to file their arguments stylized as a motion to dismiss.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/fails-to-remedy-the-defects-fox-news-asks-judge-to-dismiss-renewed-defamation-lawsuit-filed-by-man-at-the-center-of-jan-6-false-flag-conspiracy-theory/