Trump Was Almost Banned from Fox News Ahead of 2020 Election for Claiming It Featured 'Anti-Trump People': Report

Donald Trump has been a fixture on Fox News for years. However, there was a time when he very nearly was banned from appearing.

In 2020, Trump was campaigning to serve a second term in the White House. Despite being a frequent face in its reporting, he threatened to "find a new network" in May 2020, and alleged that Fox had "more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before" on air.

His attacks on Fox were reportedly not well-received by the network at the time, according to newly unsealed court documents obtained by The Guardian from Fox's lawsuit with the voting technology company Smartmatic.

The documents cite a Oct. 1, 2020, exchange between Fox's chief executive Lachlan Murdoch and Sean Hannity, which also included Lachlan's father, Fox co-founder Rupert Murdoch, and Fox News' CEO Suzanne Scott. In a message, Lachlan stated that Trump wouldn't be allowed on air any longer if his attacks continued.

“Sean, sorry, but the president is not coming back on air if he uses it to attack us,” he wrote, noting, “It is the same rule we have with the other side. This is a golden rule.”

The Guardian noted that Trump had insulted Fox that very day during an interview with Hannity, where he said that the network was "a much different place than it used to be."

Hannity's response to Lachlan's warning was redacted. However, the network did continue to cover Trump in the lead-up to the election and afterwards, when he began to insist that the results were rigged in former President Joe Biden's favor.

The newly released court documents — which stem from a $2.7 billion defamation suit Smartmatic filed against Fox over its coverage of the 2020 election and Trump's claims of election fraud — include insight into the network's stance on Trump in the aftermath.

One correspondence seen by The Guardian revealed that Hannity allegedly expected Trump to concede the election.

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Despite there being no evidence of election fraud, Trump continued to insist that he should have won the election. The situation reached a fever pitch on Jan. 6, 2021, when the president's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Hannity has previously confirmed that he did not believe the election results were fraudulent in a deposition for a defamation lawsuit involving Fox and voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems. Fox came to a $787 million settlement with Dominion in April 2023, according to the Associated Press.

The documents from the Smartmatic case also revealed that there was infighting between various Fox hosts. Hannity reportedly took issue with one of Tucker Carlson's episodes in which he spoke critically of one of Trump's lawyers. In correspondence, Hannity noted that "Trump people are pissed."

On Nov. 9, 2020, Carlson also reportedly referred to Trump as a "total piece of s---," saying that he should concede the election but that Fox couldn't "control him obviously."

"Got to do the responsible thing regardless of how he behaves," Carlson added.

Rupert, then an executive at Fox, also spoke about the network's coverage in a Jan. 8, 2021, email, writing that he was "very proud of our coverage" of the election.

The message continued, with Rupert saying that he was "especially" proud of their coverage, "since the election, when we have repeatedly urged Trump to accept the result. His denunciations only confirm the work of all our journalists to find and report the truth."

"We have never supported Trump personally but enthusiastically endorsed many of his and the administration’s policies, which delivered such a healthy and prosperous country until hit by the pandemic last year," he added.

Fox addressed the newly released documents and the lawsuit against Smartmatic in a statement shared with Mediaite, which read: “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."

The statement 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.”

Despite Lachlan's email in 2020, Trump has continued to appear on Fox News and even gave Fox host Laura Ingraham a tour of the White House in November.

PEOPLE has reached out to the White House for comment.