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Fox News continues to be exposed like never before.

In legal filings made public Tuesday as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the right-wing channel, a trove of private text messages, emails, and deposition transcripts offered a new look at how the sausage is made behind the scenes at the channel — and it is ugly. 

The filings expose the face of the network, Tucker Carlson, as a fraud. They show that Rupert Murdoch rejected conspiracy theories about Dominion, despite allowing them to be promoted on his network. And they show the contempt that hosts like Sean Hannity have for some of their colleagues who tried to tell the truth about what actually transpired in the 2020 election.

The legal filings total hundreds and hundreds of pages. Journalists will unquestionably be sifting through them for days and weeks to come. But here are some immediate takeaways:

► Carlson "passionately" hates Trump: In a number of private text messages, Carlson was harshly critical of Trump. In one November 2020 exchange, Carlson said Trump's decision to snub Joe Biden's inauguration was "so destructive." Carlson added that Trump's post-election behavior was "disgusting" and that he was "trying to look away." In another text message conversation, two days before the January 6 attack, Carlson said, "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait." Carlson added of Trump, "I hate him passionately." The Fox host said of the Trump presidency, "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."

► Murdoch rejected conspiracies: In his January deposition, Murdoch was repeatedly asked about various electronic voting conspiracy theories — and he rejected all of them. "You've never believed that Dominion was involved in an effort to delegitimize and destroy votes for Donald Trump, correct?" a Dominion lawyer asked at one point. "I'm open to persuasion; but, no, I've never seen it," Murdoch replied.

► Top hosts probably " went too far": In an email to Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott, Murdoch conceded that some of his top hosts probably crossed the line in the aftermath of the 2020 election. "Maybe Sean [Hannity] and Laura [Ingraham] went too far," Murdoch wrote Scott, in an apparent reference to election denialism after Trump's loss.

► Fury at Fox News' decision desk: Murdoch lashed out in an email on November 7, 2020, over an imminent decision by Fox News to project that Biden would become the next president. "CNN declares and FOX coming in minutes," Murdoch wrote to former New York Post editor-in-chief Col Allan. "I hate our Decision Desk people! And pollsters! Some of the same people I think. Just for the hell of it still praying for Az to prove them wrong!," he said in reference to Biden’s victory over Trump.

► Murdoch wanted  to "help" his friend Jared Kushner: In his deposition, Murdoch was asked why he divulged confidential campaign ad information to Kushner. "I was trying to help Mr. Kushner," Murdoch said. "he's a friend of mine."

► Hannity, Carlson, and Ingraham discussed their power: In a group text message, the Fox News prime time bloc, concerned about losing viewers and upset about the direction the network was going, talked about flexing their muscle. "I think the three of us have enormous power," Ingraham texted, adding that they have "more power than we know or exercise." She continued, "we should think about how together we can force a change." Hannity said he had to hop on calls but urged Ingraham to "keep thinking." Carlson said that "the first thing" they needed to do is "exactly what we want to do." Carlson added in another message to the group, "We are all officially working for an organization that hates us."

► Hannity and Doocy mocked Fox's journalists: In a series of November 2020 text messages, Hannity and Steve Doocy attacked the reporting from their colleagues on the so-called "straight news" side of the network. "'News' destroyed us," Hannity complained. "Every day," Doocy replied. "You don't piss off the base," Hannity said. "They don't care. They are JOURNALISTS," Doocy texted back. Hannity said he has "warned" people at the network "for years" and there is "NOTHING we can do to fix it."

► Bartiromo refused to call Biden President-elect: In text messages to Steve Bannon, after the election had been called for Biden, Bartiromo said she had instructed her staff to not refer to the Democrat as President-elect. "I want to see massive fraud exposed ... I told my team we are not allowed to say pres elect at [all]. Not in scripts or in banners on air. Until this moves through the courts," Bartiromo wrote, saying she is "scared & sad." Bannon said she is a "fighter" and that the movement needed her. "Ok," Bartiromo replied. 

► Fox D.C. chief decried "existential crisis" at network: More than a month after the 2020 election, then-Fox News DC Managing Editor Bill Sammon decried the network’s coverage of false election claims in private messages to a colleague, fearing it had become an “existential crisis” for the right-wing channel. “It's remarkable how weak ratings makes good journalists do bad things," Sammon wrote then-political editor Chris Stirewalt. Stirewalt replied, "It’s a real mess."

———  BELOW THE FOLD  ———

Carlson's Con: Right-wing conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson continued to lie to his audience on Tuesday night about the attack that transpired at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The attack, of course, was prompted by election lies pushed by outlets including Fox News in the wake of Donald Trump's 2020 defeat. Carlson spewed his propaganda amid mounting condemnation — including from GOP senators who pushed back against his characterization of events, but notably were mum on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who knowingly handed the surveillance tapes to the 1/6 truther.

► U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger ripped into Carlson, saying his special was "filled with offensive and misleading conclusions" about the attack. "The program," Manger said in an internal memo, "conveniently cherry-picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video."

► Several Republican senators pushed back on Carlson, including Mitch McConnell who said, "It was a mistake in my view for Fox News to depict this in a way that is completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at Capitol thinks."

► The family of Brian Sicknick, the U.S. Capitol Police officer who died one day after the attack, released a blistering statement blasting Fox News as a "fictitious" news organization: "What will it take to silence the lies of people like Carlson? ... Every time the pain of that day seems to have ebbed a bit, organizations like Fox rip our wounds wide open again and we are frankly sick of it. Leave us the hell alone and instead of spreading more lies from Supreme Leader Trump, why don't you focus on real news?"

► Bret Baier aired a report casting doubt on Carlson's special. "To be clear, no one here at Fox News condones any of the violence that happened on January 6," Baier said. 

► Speaking to reporters Tuesday night, McCarthy said he had had no regrets about releasing the footage to Carlson: "I didn't see what was aired," he claimed. "What I want to do exactly is give transparency to everybody, and everybody can make up their own conclusion."

► Jake Tapper asked McCarthy's office four simple questions about Carlson's claims on the Jan. 6 footage. The speaker did not respond.

► Adam Kinzinger responded to Carlson calling him a liar: "He is an unserious man who is doing serious damage with the cooperation of Kevin McCarthy who wants to have Tucker Carlson on his speed dial," he told Tapper.

► Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell: "Congrats to Fox News for following up their public exposure of knowingly lying to their audience about the 2020 election with knowingly lying to their audience about January 6th."

► But Elon Musk was quick to jump on the Carlson conspiracy train, tweeting: "This is crazy. The public was misled."

TikTok Tumult: More steam is gathering at the federal government level to potentially ban TikTok. A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday introduced legislation that would give the Biden administration new authority to ban the popular video-sharing app if it is deemed to pose a national security threat. In a statement, TikTok said a ban on it would translate to "a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide." CNN's Brian Fung has more here. 

📈 Snap shares continued to surge on the bad news for TikTok, ending Tuesday up another 1%. Earlier in the day, it had even spiked another 5%.

Ron's Response: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came out on Tuesday against a restrictive bill filed by a state Republican legislator that would require bloggers writing about elected officials to register with the state. "That's not anything I've ever supported," DeSantis said at a news conference. "I don't support [it]." The governor added, "I don't control every single bill that has been filed or amendment, so just as we go through this session, please understand that." The condemnation comes after days of bipartisan opposition to the bill. The ACLU said, as well, that the legislation would have violated the First Amendment if passed. Raw Story's David Edwards has more.

'Barry' Bows Out: Another HBO show is coming to an end. On Tuesday, the premium television channel unveiled the trailer for the fourth season of the hit series — and co-creator Bill Hader simultaneously revealed to Variety's Kate Aurthur that it will be the show's last. Hader said that as they wrote the final chapter a "very clear ending presented itself" to the team. Read Aurthur's full interview with Hader here. 

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino. Have feedback? Send us an email here. We will see you back in your inbox tomorrow.