Secret tension between Fox News's biggest stars revealed in shocking new court documents
The documents, obtained by The Washington Post, also show Pirro bragging about her role in Donald Trump 's win over Kamala Harris.
Smartmatic argues Pirro served as a conduit to Trump associates who claimed the previous election was stolen. She went on to peddle such claims on-air.
The company also claims Pirro was committed to supporting Trump despite the network's strict policies barring on-air personalities from doing so.
Pirro, an Upstate New York judge prior to joining Fox, left the network in May to become the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.
The documents provide a painstaking picture of Pirro's time at the network, including some bad blood behind-the-scenes.
'[Hannity stormed] in like he owns the place, throws his papers on the Pres desk and says, you don't mind if I use your private bathroom, and walks into bathroom within Oval and uses it,' she wrote to a friend on October 27, 2020, following one Oval Office meeting with Trump and Hannity.
'Looks at me and says, I got to talk to him … It's all abt him, period. No one else matters.'
'Egomaniac,' she scathed.
In one message sent by Pirro to then RNC chair Ronna McDaniel the month before, the then-Fox host boasted, 'I work so hard for the party across the country,'
'I'm the Number 1 watched show on all news cable all weekend. I work so hard for the President and party.'
Other conversations included to bolster Smartmatic's claims suggest Pirro and other hosts were motivated to stay on Trump's good side for other reasons as well.
In one sent in 2020, she complained to Trump's son Eric Trump how she was 'upset' that Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud in 2010, had received a pardon from Trump and her husband had not.
Pirro's spouse, Albert Pirro, was the last to be pardoned by Trump during his first term after committing a series of tax-related crimes.
Albert Pirro - a onetime influential GOP businessman who deducted $1.2 million of his personal expenses as business write-offs to buy cars, vacation homes, and paintings, prosecutors said - served 17 months.
In months prior, Pirro brushed Kerik off as a 'selfish b***ard', after being told a pardon for Albert was not assured.
Pirro's spouse, Albert Pirro, was the last to be pardoned by Trump during his first term, after a series of tax crimes that saw him sentenced to more than two years. 'I DON'T CARE [ABOUT] ANYONE ELSE,' Pirro told Eric Trump in one message. The couple are seen together in 2000
In one message that mentioned her husband and Kerik, she complained, 'I DON'T CARE [ABOUT] ANYONE ELSE.'
Separately, Smartmatic argued that Pirro served as a conduit to Trump associates who touted the claim the election was stolen, specifically the lawyer Sidney Powell.
'It's Jeanine P.,' she wrote in a November 10, 2020, text message to Powell that mentioned Dominion Voting Systems, the voting machine company Fox settled with in 2023 for $787million over similar claims.
'Got a former CIA chief of station who knows [about] development of Dominion,' Pirro wrote.
'Keep fighting,' she went on to tell Powell.
As this was happening, Pirro's producer, Jerry Andrews, was warning Pirro to stay away from claims of election fraud on-air.
Pirro consequently complained in all-caps, to Hannity: 'I'M TIRED OF THE CENSORSHIP AND I'M EMBARRASSED BY HOW THEY CALLED THIS ELECTION.'
The message was sent just after Joe Biden's win.
Pirro went on to tell Hannity - weeks after criticizing him as a narcissist - that she had made several demands to management after an episode of 'Justice with Judge Jeanine,' then set to air on November 7, 2020, was scrapped.
'Fox News promoting u every 5 seconds. It's hilarious,' Hannity quipped back, which the Post reported.
The contents of Pirro's post-election show remain unknown, aside from the fact it spurred 'internal concerns'.
In a deposition included in Smartmatic's court filing, Pirro conceded that the election was 'fair and free'.
'I believe that there's been no showing that Smartmatic engaged in any problems,' she said of the voting technology company that provided election technology to Los Angeles County.
She also answered 'I do' when asked by Smartmatic's lawyers whether she believed Biden was 'legitimately elected,' after alleging on the air that both Smartmatic and its competitor Dominion had conspired to rig the election against Trump.
The Dominion suit was settled for $787.5million. Fox never corrected its coverage of Smartmatic or acknowledged particular mistakes, Smartmatic pointed out in the more than 400-page suit.
Smartmatic is seeking damages for what it says were falsehoods and conspiracies.
Other hosts named in the filing include Maria Bartiromo and Jesse Watters.
Fox News slammed the suit in a statement, saying, 'The evidence shows that Smartmatic's business and reputation were badly suffering long before any claims by President Trump's lawyers on FOX News and that Smartmatic grossly inflated its damage claims to generate headlines and chill free speech.
'Now, in the aftermath of Smartmatic's executives getting indicted for bribery charges, we are eager and ready to continue defending our press freedoms.'
A Los Angeles Times report Wednesday detailed how federal prosecutors have filed a corruption case against Smartmatic, claiming the company purposely overbilled LA County for extra cash used to bribe government officials.
The suit, viewed by Daily Mail, remains ongoing. In it, Fox News lawyers claimed the county is holding back crucial records.
It alleges that 'the very Smartmatic executives involved in winning the L.A. County contract used similar methods to bribe officials in other jurisdictions.'
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