Watters allegedly warned of retribution against Democrats after Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential race, according to legal documents obtained by ‘The Guardian’
Jesse Waters (L) and Pete Hegseth (R).Credit : Roy Rochlin/Getty; Anna Moneymaker/Getty
New documents obtained by The Guardian as part of a lawsuit against Fox News reveal candid conversations from some of the network’s biggest stars, including host Jesse Watters, who claimed the 2020 election had been stolen in a message to his then-colleague Pete Hegseth.
The Guardian journalist Jeremy Barr shared a discussion between Watters, 47, and Hegseth, 45, which was revealed as part of Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit against Fox. The voting machine company is suing the network over claims it made on broadcasts that Smartmatic interfered with the 2020 presidential election.
In the conversation shared by Barr, Watters — who is the current host of Jesse Watters Primetime — discussed the 2020 election results with Hegseth, who previously worked as a co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend before joining President Donald Trump’s second administration.
The two men appeared to question the results of the election, in which former President Joe Biden beat Trump.
“Is a s— show. And suspicious,” Hegseth wrote. “Spoke at length with my buddy, Sean Parnell, who is running in PA-17. His race flipped, in crazy ways. Unreported mail in ballots dropped overnight, after pause in counting. They found 80 dead people who voted w/ just a 1 hour search. Gov. removed signature and postmark requirements — took off the quality guardrails right when we needed them most w/ mail in.”
He added, “The Left was itching to cheat, and they did. Just don’t see how it flips the POTUS election.”
Watters responded by saying, “It’s over,” adding, “They stole it.”
He continued, “Everyone knows it,” but said, “Hard to prove.”
The Fox host then vowed, “But we’ll get revenge.”
Watters then seemed to ask Hegseth about a memo instructing them not to use the word “fraud.” Hegseth replied, “No, I didn’t get the memo. Is it a thing?” before affirming Watters’ claims about the election.
“They did steal it, and you are correct,” he said. “It’s probably over. Revenge is coming, just remains to see what it is.”
Despite their claims, multiple investigations have failed to produce evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
In a statement shared with Mediaite on Monday, Nov. 24, Fox addressed the newly released documents and the lawsuit against Smartmatic.
“The evidence shows that Smartmatic’s business and reputation were badly suffering long before any claims by President Trump’s lawyers on FOX News and that Smartmatic grossly inflated its damage claims to generate headlines and chill free speech,” they said.
They continued, “Now, in the aftermath of Smartmatic being criminally charged with bribery in the Philippines and the Government’s motion to include evidence of Smartmatic’s business dealings in Venezuela and Los Angeles County, we are eager and ready to continue defending our press freedoms.”
PEOPLE reached out to Fox for additional comment on the reported messages between Watters and Hegseth. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Jesse Watters (L) and President Donald Trump (R).John Lamparski/Getty; Joe Raedle/Getty
Watters was chosen to replace former Fox star Tucker Carlson in 2023, when he was given Carlson’s primetime spot on weekdays at 8 p.m. The decision came two months after Carlson, 56, left Fox in April 2023.
Prior to his exit from the network, Carlson had expressed frustration with Trump over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election. Carlson called the president “a demonic force” and “a destroyer” in private text messages revealed as part of a case brought by voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems.
While Carlson embraced Trump on his show, he lambasted him in private, the lawsuit revealed, texting a colleague, “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait.”
“I hate him passionately,” Carlson added.
In September, Watters controversially called to “bomb” or “gas” the United Nations headquarters in New York City after Trump experienced difficulties with both a teleprompter and an escalator while visiting for the General Assembly. The president’s teleprompter cut out at the beginning of his speech and he and first lady Melania Trump had to walk up an escalator after it froze.
Watters, who also co-hosts Fox’s The Five, said on a Sept. 23 episode of the show that U.N. staffers “sabotaged” the escalator and the teleprompter. He then called the malfunctions “an insurrection,” and said, “what we need to do is either leave the U.N. or we need to bomb it.”
Watters’ co-hosts could be heard chuckling at this remark as he continued, “[The U.N. headquarters] is in New York, though, right? Could be some fallout there. Maybe gas it?”
As his co-host Dana Perino said, “Let’s not do that,” Watters replied, “Don’t gas it. Okay, but we need to destroy it. Maybe can we demolish the building? Have everybody leave and then we’ll demolish the building.”
He later privately apologized for his remarks, U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said. Dujarric said the Fox host issued an apology to U.N. global communications chief Melissa Fleming after the organization contacted Fox News with concerns about what he said on The Five, Reuters reported.
