Raymond Epps lost his legal battle against Fox News on Friday when a federal judge dismissed his defamation lawsuit for a second time, concluding he failed to meet the high bar required to prove the network knowingly broadcast false information about him.
Epps, a former Marine and onetime Oath Keepers member, sued Fox over on-air allegations that he was a government operative who incited violence during the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. The network's coverage, particularly on Tucker Carlson's program before the host left in April 2023, painted Epps as a plant meant to stir chaos and direct blame toward Trump supporters rather than the former president himself.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Hall in Delaware ruled that Epps did not establish "actual malice," the legal standard requiring proof that Fox either knew statements were false or showed reckless disregard for the truth. "Taken together, the allegations do not give rise to a plausible inference that Carlson or anyone else responsible for his show subjectively knew that their statements were false," Hall wrote.
Epps claimed the conspiracy theories turned him into a target for death threats, forcing him and his wife to abandon their Arizona ranch and move into a recreational vehicle. He had been a loyal Fox viewer and Carlson fan before becoming the subject of the network's reporting.
This marks the second dismissal of the suit. Hall had thrown it out in 2024 but permitted Epps to revise and refile his claims. His amended version still fell short of the legal threshold, the judge determined.
The case touched on uncomfortable ground for a Trump ally. Epps was a staunch Trump supporter who watched Fox religiously, only to find himself cast as a villain by the very network he trusted. His lawyers argued that "Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican party" and "eventually turned on one of their own."
Epps pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge tied to the Capitol riot and received one year of probation. Trump later included him in his sweeping clemency push, pardoning Epps along with roughly 1,500 others. Federal prosecutors have backed Epps' denials that he worked with the FBI or served as a government agent on January 6. His only federal employment came as a Marine from 1979 to 1983.
Fox News celebrated the ruling in a statement Friday evening, saying the decision "further preserving the press freedoms" guaranteed under the First Amendment.
Author James Rodriguez: "The actual malice standard remains a powerful shield for news outlets, even when covering controversial figures close to their own audience, and Epps' loss shows how difficult it is for public figures to win defamation suits against the press."
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