Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott wants Dominion Voting Systems to explain whether it played a role in the firing of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Fox News fired Carlson, its most popular prime-time anchor, soon after the network agreed to a settlement with Dominion for $787.5 million.
That settlement was reached shortly before a trial was set to begin on Dominion's claims that Fox News defamed the company by spreading election lies about the 2020 election.
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"If the public reporting is accurate that Dominion Voting Systems demanded that Tucker Carlson be fired as part of a litigation settlement, then I am happy that Dominion does not operate in Texas, and I don't think that they should do so in the future," Abbott tweeted Saturday.
"We may disagree with other's positions, but we should never try to improperly silence views contrary to our own."
The governor added that if Dominion "wants to do business with Texas in the future, they should first answer questions about what role, if any, they played in silencing a prominent conservative journalist. The answers to those questions, and other factors, should guide whether we want them to operate here."
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Abbott's tweet linked to an Axios story that reported Carlson's lawyers had sent a letter to Fox accusing Fox News of fraud and breach of contract.
The Axios story also reported that two sources said Carlson was told by a member of the Fox board that he was taken off the air as part of the Dominion settlement.
Dominion spokeswoman Claire Bischoff previously told Newsmax that, "Dominion has been on the record clearly stating that canceling Carlson's show was not part of the settlement agreement."
A Dominion spokeswoman also told Newsweek that Carlson's job status "was [not] part of the settlement agreement and any claims otherwise are false."
However, an attorney representing Dominion suggested the company's lawsuit against Fox News resulted in Carlson being canned.
"Dominion did not insist on them [Fox News] firing Tucker Carlson as part of the settlement," said Dominion lawyer Stephen Shackelford in an interview with Axios.
"But the very fact that that's what resulted out of all of this, and it's traceable from the work that Dominion and Staple Street set in motion ... of course, I know what's in the redacted stuff, and I can't say anything about it. I hope that it all gets un-redacted at some point."
Fox News' firing of Carlson on April 24 came soon after the settlement averted a trial that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election. Text messages sent by Carlson were made public as part of that lawsuit.
Carlson has announced he will be producing a "new version" of his show on Twitter.
"Starting soon, we'll be bringing a new version of the show we've been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter," he said in a tweeted video. "We'll bring some other things, too, which we'll tell you about. But for now we're just grateful to be here."
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