Lachlan Murdoch sues Australian website over article connecting Fox to Capitol Riot

Lachlan Murdoch, son of Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and the company's top executive, filed a state of claim against an Australian website over an article it published linking the network and its personnel to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Crikey, an Australian news and opinion site, published a June 29 article labeling Fox News and its anchors as "unindicted co-conspirators" to former President Donald Trump in instigating the riot.

"If Trump ends up in the dock for a variety of crimes committed as president, as he should be, not all his co-conspirators will be there with him. Nixon was famously the 'unindicted co-conspirator' in Watergate," the article read. "The Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis."

Murdoch, in turn, blasted the article for alleged defamation, prompting the Crikey staff to challenge him to prove his case in court. Murdoch, on Tuesday, filed the state of claim, according to The Hill.

On Monday, the outlet published demands that Murdoch sent to them regarding the article and presented a response, arguing that the Crikey article does not mention Lachlan Murdoch by name, but refers instead to Rupert Murdoch, using only the surname.

Crikey also acknowledges referring to "The Murdochs" in the final paragraph, which says that "The Murdochs and their slew of poisonous Fox News commentators are the unindicted co-conspirators of this continuing crisis.” 

The outlet further blasted Murdoch for allegedly attempting to suppress another outlet.

"We didn’t start this senseless altercation with Lachlan Murdoch. We may not be as big, rich, powerful or important as him, but we have one common interest: we’re a news company that believes in publishing, not suppressing, public interest journalism," they wrote.