Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blames Kevin McCarthy and Tucker Carlson and demands that Fox News end Carlson’s 1/6 disinformation campaign.
Video of Schumer:
Transcript of Schumer’s remarks:
Last night millions of Americans tuned in to one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television.
With disregard for the facts, disregarding the risks and knowing full well that he was lying – lying – to his audience, Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired a lengthy segment last night claiming that the attack on the Capitol of January 6 was not a violent insurrection.
Diving deep into the waters of conspiracy and choosing from thousands of hours of security footage, Mr. Carlson told the bold lie that the attack on the Capitol – which we have all seen with our own eyes – did not was, somehow, not an attack at all.
He tried to argue that it was nothing more than a peaceful sightseeing tour. Can you imagine? A non-violent protest, a perfectly fine and appropriate instance of people speaking their minds.
I, and so many others who were here on Capitol Hill, and millions and millions of Americans, are just mad at Tucker Carlson and Kevin McCarthy today.
Members of my team were here at the Capitol on January 6. Their lives were put in danger, as were those of many of my colleagues, as well as those of the police, maintenance staff, journalists and countless others.
At one point I was within 30 feet of the rioters. One of them, I was told, shouted “let’s catch him”, before my deputy pulled me away and we ran the other way. To say that January 6 was not violent is a lie, a pure and simple lie.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a primetime cable news anchor manipulate his viewers the way Mr. Carlson did last night.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a newscaster treat the American people and American democracy with such disdain. And he’s coming back tonight with another segment. Fox News should tell him not to. Fox News, Rupert Murdoch—tell Mr. Carlson not to air a second segment of lies. You know that’s a lie. You admitted it’s a lie.
And President McCarthy is just as guilty as Mr. Carlson. President McCarthy’s decision to share security footage with Fox looked like a mistake from the start, but after last night, it looks like a disaster.
President McCarthy has played a treacherous game – a treacherous game – in addressing the hard right. He allowed the Big Lie and further eroded our precious democracy. When people don’t believe the elections are up to par, it’s the beginning of the end of this bold experiment in democracy that has been going on for more than two hundred years.
It is all the more shameful that Chairman McCarthy knows precisely what kind of client Mr. Carlson is – he is not surprised by this result.
What a low point for President McCarthy. What a low point for Fox News.
As the report on the Dominion trial shows, Mr. Carlson had no problem admitting behind the scenes that the big lie is pure garbage. When Sidney Powell went on air to broadcast the stolen election narrative, Mr Carlson told fellow presenter Laura Ingraham that ‘Sidney Powell is lying’. Mr Carlson’s own producer texted him saying: ‘I don’t think there is any evidence of voter fraud that swayed the election.
They know. They know very well that they lied. And they do it anyway.
All Americans of all types and stripes and from every corner of this country – Democrats, Republicans, Independents – must take a stand and call out Mr. Carlson’s conduct for what it is: a dangerous and unforgivable attempt to destabilize our democracy and rewrite the history of the worst attack on our Constitution since the civil war.
It is an insult to all the police officers who were on the scene on that terrible and frightening day.
It is an insult to the memory of everyone who perished in the attack, especially Brian Sicknick. Non violent? Ask the Sicknick family. It makes me sick just to think about what his family has to go through this morning.
And it is an insult to all who care about our democracy and wish to preserve the dream of our founders in our time and in our time.
I hope every member of this House will denounce Fox and Mr. Carlson for defending the insurgents.
And again, I am disappointed and angered by President McCarthy’s decision to share sensitive security footage with Mr. Carlson.
President McCarthy was here that day. He knows what really happened. Its staff and MPs have suffered like everyone else. But he chose cheap political expediency over truth and the preservation of democracy.
I condemn Mr. Carlson for siding with the enemies of democracy. I strongly condemn the actions of President McCarthy and fiercely oppose his decision to share these images with Carlson. I urge Fox News to order Carlson to stop spreading the Big Lie on his network and agree with his viewers on the truth – the truth! – behind their efforts to mislead the public. Conduct like theirs simply demands that another January 6th occur.
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Fox News must end Tucker Carlson’s 1/6 propaganda
Majority Leader Schumer was right. The American people should be furious with Kevin McCarthy for giving Tucker Carlson the Capitol security footage. The American people should be furious with Carlson for using people-owned radio waves to attack democracy.
It is important to remember that Rupert Murdoch could put an end to Carlson’s insurrectionary madness with a simple phone call. Murdoch won’t make the call, suggesting he’s fine with setting America up for another 1/6 attack as long as it keeps his viewers from fleeing.
Fox News must end McCarthy and Carlson’s disinformation campaign, or America may have to shut down Fox News.
Jason is the editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate studies focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association