This one is easy - Narrative. Fox never believed the election interference stuff - they were in on it with their early calls of Arizona. The DS needed someone the normies listen to in order to kill the election interference narrative, and Fox News was the perfect choice. I don't believe any money was exchanged in the "settlement". By Fox settling right before the trial it makes it appear that Fox was "wrong" in their early reporting and they are now acknowledging that.
Now when NewsMax and OANN go to trial Dominion will bring up the settlement in court and say "see - even Fox admitted it wasn't real". They know neither NewsMax or OANN have the money to settle so their play is either to bribe them to settle (with a fake deal) or destroy them.
This one is easy - Narrative. Fox never believed the election interference stuff - they were in on it with their early calls of Arizona. The DS needed someone the normies listen to in order to kill the election interference narrative, and Fox News was the perfect choice. I don't believe any money was exchanged in the "settlement". By Fox settling right before the trial it makes it appear that Fox was "wrong" in their early reporting and they are now acknowledging that.
Now when NewsMax and OANN go to trial Dominion will bring up the settlement in court and say "see - even Fox admitted it wasn't real". They know neither NewsMax or OANN have the money to settle so their play is either to bribe them to settle (with a fake deal) or destroy them.