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Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and several other members of the party said on Tuesday that Fox News was wrong to portray the footage in a way that underestimated the unrest in the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In a prime-time show on Fox News on Friday, host Tucker Carlson aired the first installment to millions of viewers, after Tucker Carlson Tonight received thousands of hours of security footage from Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“It’s great about January 6 being organized or violent,” Carlson said, calling the crowd a “scene” at one point.
At length, Carlson often emphasizes the imagery of men, some in combat gear and wielding flagples, just milling about in a gilded hall, taking pictures from the surroundings while pausing in their hour-long attack.
“It’s wrong, in my view, that Fox News is portraying this in a different way than what law enforcement officials in the Capitol think,” said McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader from Kentucky.
Carlson denounced January 6 committee led by Democrats in the last session of Congress, and called out Republican panel members Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger as liars. The committee concluded that former president Donald Trump was the “main cause” of the attack, prompting a backlash in Washington with weeks of unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud in the November 2020 presidential election.
Carlson said those who descended on the Capitol “right” believe the election “has been unfairly conducted.” The host did not specify what was unfair, although he previously criticized the expansion of mail-in voting that occurred due to COVID-19.
House Speaker blast to hand over the record
Democrats were predicted to be united in condemnation. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, who led the House January 6 Committee, called McCarthy’s decision to selectively release security records “a dereliction of duty.”
“The speaker decided it was more important to give Fox hosts who spread lies and propaganda more than to protect the Capitol,” Thompson said in a statement. He called January 6 “one of the darkest days in the history of our democracy.”
Fox News has been scrutinized in recent weeks for the content of its broadcasts, which even some hosts and executives have personally criticized as untrue, as a result of the discovery process in the defamation trial it faces next month from the voting technology company founded in Toronto, Dominion Voting Systems.
Another tranche of documents in this case was released on Tuesday, in which the founder of Fox News Rupert Murdoch said in a deposition that “the election was not stolen.”
Several Republicans joined McConnell in their criticism of Carlson’s broadcast.
“I thought it was an insurrection at the time, I still think it was an insurrection today,” said South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds, Republican, on Tuesday.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina called the program “bullshit,” referring to the large number of police raids that day.
McCarthy, who was filmed with colleagues after the attack blaming Trump, has long backed away from criticism of the former president in connection with the riots.
He stood by his decision to release the footage to Carlson’s show, saying Tuesday that viewers can “draw their own conclusions.”
Reaction from Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell:
Don’t waste your time on Tucker Carlson. They are trolls. Let’s focus on the people who feed the trolls, @SpeakerMcCarthy.
Rep. North Carolina Republican Joe Wilson, who gained notoriety 14 years ago by accusing President Barack Obama of lying during a speech to Congress, thanked Carlson on Tuesday.
“The truth has finally been revealed,” Wilson said from the House floor, without specifying.
Capitol Police push back on ‘disturbing’ footage
Carlson set up footage of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick at the Capitol taking down posters and politely ushering protesters out the door.
But other footage has shown Sicknick grappling with protesters, at one point being pulled away after being pepper-sprayed. Hours later, Sicknick collapsed and died on January 7, 2021, from a pair of strokes.
“The department maintains, as anyone with common sense does, that if Officer Sicknick had not fought valiantly for several hours when he was brutally attacked, Officer Sicknick would not have died tomorrow,” Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a memo to the police force. which.
Several Capitol Police officers who defended the crowd have testified about their harrowing experiences in several criminal cases since January 6, 2021.
Carlson’s portrayal of the show was “an insult to every police officer,” said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, especially Sicknick’s brother.
“Non-violence? Ask the family,” Schumer said.
WATCH l Fox News’ personal messages set the tone for the coverage it airs:
Court documents filed by Dominion Voting Systems in its lawsuit against Fox News allege that Fox hosts and executives pushed election fraud claims about Dominion voting machines to boost ratings.
Trump, who is again running for president, insisted on Tuesday that Carlson’s presentation was “irrefutable” evidence that the rioters had been wrongly accused of a crime.
Trump again called for the release from prison of people who have been convicted or pleaded guilty to the attack. He has suggested that, if re-elected, he might consider pardons for those convicted in criminal cases.
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