Off the air, Fox News stars blasted the election fraud claims they peddled

A headline about President Donald Trump is displayed outside Fox News studios, on Nov. 28, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

In the days and weeks after the 2020 elections, the Fox News Channel repeatedly broadcast false claims that then-President Donald Trump had been cheated of victory.

Off the air, the network’s stars, producers and executives expressed contempt for those same conspiracies, calling them “mind-blowingly nuts,” “totally off the rails” and “completely bs” — often in far earthier terms.

The network’s top primetime stars — Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity — texted contemptuously of the claims in group chats, but also denounced colleagues pointing that out publicly or on television.