Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that some Fox News commentators endorsed false allegations by former US president Donald Trump that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, according to excerpts of a deposition unsealed on Monday.

The claims, along with the company's handling of them, are at the heart of a defamation lawsuit against the cable news giant filed by Dominion Voting Systems.

The recently unsealed documents include excerpts from a deposition in which Mr Murdoch was asked whether he was aware that some of the network's commentators — Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity — at times endorsed the false election claims.

Mr Murdoch replied: "Yes. They endorsed."

The Murdoch deposition is the latest filing in the defamation case to reveal concerns at the top-rated network over how it was handling Mr Trump's claims as its ratings plummeted after the network called Arizona for Joe Biden, angering Mr Trump and his supporters.

An earlier filing showed a gulf between the stolen election narrative the network was airing in prime time and doubts about the claims raised by its stars behind the scenes.

In one text from November 16, 2020, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said, "Sidney Powell is lying" about having evidence for election fraud, referring to one of Mr Trump's lawyers.

The Dominion case is the latest example showing that those spreading false information about the 2020 election knew there was no evidence to support it.

The now-disbanded House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol disclosed that many of Mr Trump's top advisers repeatedly warned him that the allegations he was making about fraud were false — and yet he continued making the claims.

In September 2020, weeks before the election, Mr Murdoch urged that Lou Dobbs be fired because he was "an extremist", according to Dominion's court filing.

Mr Murdoch also said he thought it was "really bad" for former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to be advising Mr Trump because Mr Giuliani's "judgement was bad" and he was "an extreme partisan", according to a deposition excerpt.

When the Fox chairman was asked whether he could have requested that Ms Powell and Mr Giuliani not be put on the air, he replied: "I could have. But I didn't."

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Dominion alleges Fox spread 'known lies'

Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which sells electronic voting hardware and software, is suing the Fox News Network and its parent company Fox Corp for defamation.

Dominion contends that some Fox News employees deliberately amplified false claims by Mr Trump's supporters that Dominion machines had changed votes in the 2020 election and that Fox provided a platform for guests to make false and defamatory statements about the company.

Dominion attorneys contend that executives in the "chain of command" at both Fox News and Fox Corp knew the network was broadcasting "known lies, had the power to stop it, but chose to let it continue".

"That was wrong, and for that, FC and FNN are both liable."

Fox defence cites corporate structure, protected speech

Attorneys for Fox Corp note in their filing that Mr Murdoch also testified that he never discussed Dominion or voter fraud with any of the accused Fox News hosts.

They say Dominion has produced "zero evidentiary support" for the claim that high-level executives at Fox Corp had any role in creating or publishing the statements at issue.