NEW YORK – Mr Jason Donner, a former reporter and producer for Fox News, said in a lawsuit that he was fired in 2022 after he complained about the network’s “false reporting on the ‘stolen election’”.

Mr Donner, who worked for the Fox Corp channel for 12 years, sued the network for wrongful dismissal in September in District of Columbia Superior Court.

On Monday, Fox asked that the case be moved to federal court. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The former Fox journalist claimed he was reprimanded after posting on Twitter in November 2020 that former president Donald Trump’s attorney Rudolph Giuliani told a Pennsylvania court that the former president’s election lawsuit was “not a fraud case” as repeatedly alleged.

Mr Donner said in the suit that he was working for Fox News in the US Capitol when Trump supporters stormed the building on Jan 6, 2021. He said he called his superiors that day, saying the network’s reporting was “gonna get us all killed”.

Mr Donner complained to superiors that year about the network’s coverage of the incident, according to the complaint, including the Tucker Carlson series Patriot Purge. Mr Donner claimed the series included conspiracy theories proved to be false.

In May 2022, Mr Donner said he formally complained to the network’s human resources department.

“Allowing highly paid hosts and contributors to make factually false statements about that day is not only demoralising but creates a hostile work environment,” he said in a memo included in the suit.

Mr Donner reiterated those complaints in a meeting with HR in August, according to the lawsuit. The following month he was fired, he said, because he didn’t show up for work. Mr Donner said he had called in sick because of a bad reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Mr Donner most recently worked as a senior adviser to Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, according to his LinkedIn bio. BLOOMBERG