Fox could be on the hook for campaign finance violations after new court docs drop: ex-FBI agent

The lawsuit between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News came to a head in a pair of contrasting court filings on Monday that revealed several details previously unknown about the defamation lawsuit against the network that claims to be "fair and balanced."

Among the details revealed is that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch gave election assistance to Donald Trump's campaign, but it wasn't just about strategy. Fox got their hands on ads from Joe Biden's campaign that hadn't been released publicly. Campaigns submit their ads for commercial buys and typically release the videos publicly after they're playing on the air. After getting the videos, Fox handed the ads over to the Trump campaign.

Former FBI agent Asha Rangappa questioned whether it could be considered an in-kind donation to a political campaign from a corporation directly to a candidate.

"An in-kind contribution is a non-monetary contribution. Goods or services offered free or at less than the usual charge result in an in-kind contribution," the Federal Election Commission says on its website. "Similarly, when a person or entity pays for services on the committee’s behalf, the payment is an in-kind contribution. An expenditure made by any person or entity in cooperation, consultation or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate’s campaign is also considered an in-kind contribution to the candidate."

Most recently, in the campaign finance case involving Trump's hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, the FEC indicated that they would investigate it, but the Justice Department took over the probe.