Wilmington, Delaware CNN —
Dominion Voting Systems can’t bring up the January 6 insurrection during its upcoming defamation trial against Fox News, a Delaware judge ruled Tuesday, who also revealed at a hearing that he has been receiving death threats.
The voting technology company sued Fox News over the right-wing network’s promotions of false claims that Dominion machines rigged the 2020 election. But almost all of the allegedly defamatory statements mentioned in Dominion’s lawsuit occurred before the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said at a hearing Tuesday that invoking January 6 would be too prejudicial with the jury, and that the case isn’t about whether Fox News “influenced” the insurrection.
“That may be for another court at another time, but it’s not for this court at this time,” Davis said.
The judge issued rulings on nearly two dozen pretrial motions that will set the stage for the historic trial, which is set to kick off this week, with jury selection on Thursday. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. Fox says it didn’t defame anyone and that the case is a meritless assault on press freedoms.
