U.S. and world news for March 8

More Fox News revelations: In another release of evidence from Dominion Voting Systems in its $1.6 billion libel suit against Fox News, Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch said in a sworn deposition that he believes the 2020 presidential election was not stolen from Donald Trump and that the election was not fraudulent. Other evidence in the case reveals that Fox hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham along with Fox executives all knew that what they were telling their viewers about the election were lies, and Trump had lost the election. The evidence shows they continued to report the lies as being factual because that’s what the Fox audience wanted to hear. The new evidence also reveals that Tucker Carlson texted colleagues that he passionately hated Trump.

Rewriting history: Some leading Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Mitt Romney, along with the head of the Capitol Hill Police, have blasted Fox and Tucker Carlson for attempting to convince people that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol did not take place. In his first two stories designed to rewrite history, Carlson presented images of empty hallways in the Capitol and small groups of people milling around instead of the footage that shows police being assaulted, windows and doors being broken, and the mob breaking down barriers and trying to find House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence who they threatened to kill. Carlson was given more than 40,000 hours of Capitol Hill security footage by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Kidnap victims: The two survivors of the kidnapping in Mexico have returned to the U.S. and were hospitalized for treatment. Two of their companions were killed by members of a Mexican drug cartel. The Americans became lost while trying to find a doctor’s office where one of them was to undergo a medical procedure.

Midair collision: Four people were killed in the midair collision of two light planes yesterday over a lake in Winter Haven, Florida. A student and instructor on one of the planes were killed as were two people on the other plane.

Tesla steering wheels: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into reports of steering wheels falling off of 2023 Tesla Model Y electric vehicles. There are two known instances of the steering wheels falling off while the cars were being driven because a bolt that attaches the steering wheel to the steering column was missing. About 120,000 of the 2023 Tesla Model Y vehicles were built.

Powell testifies: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies again today before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs after yesterday’s testimony in which he said the next interest rate hike by the Fed may be larger than anticipated. Powell held out the possibility of a one-half percent hike, rather than the anticipated quarter percent. That sent the stock market into a dive with the Dow Jones Industrial Stock Average closing down 570 points yesterday.

Cover photo of Tucker Carlson by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons