The White House has weighed in on Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, calling him “not credible” after he aired a segment of carefully selected images that sought to portray protesters who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, as mostly peaceful.
The segment, which aired Monday night, kicked off a political maelstrom, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling it a “misrepresentation of the unprecedented violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law”.
Top Democrat Chuck Schumer also accused Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of fanning conspiracy theories by giving Carlson “exclusive” access to the video.
Monday’s broadcast was the first installment in what is anticipated to be a series of segments, based on 41,000 hours of security footage of the Capitol attack given to Carlson.
McCarthy said he stands by his decision to release the images, which he says was done in the interest of transparency.
In Monday’s segment, Carlson described most of the January 6 protesters as “tourists” who were “orderly and tame,” not rioters bent on annulling the electoral victory of President Joe Biden. He also dismissed those who violently stormed the Capitol as a small minority of “hooligans.”
Carlson’s claims drew a rare rebuke from the White House on Wednesday, as the Biden administration generally avoids commenting on specific media coverage.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement that the administration agrees “with what Fox News’ own lawyers and executives have repeatedly emphasized in multiple courts of law: that Tucker Carlson is not credible.”
A ongoing defamation lawsuit has alleged that Fox News hosts knowingly spread misinformation about the 2020 presidential election, based on statements by Fox Corporation Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other senior network figures.
Five people, including a police officer, died during or shortly after the January 6 attackwhich unfolded while a joint session of the United States Congress was counting the electoral college votes to certify Biden’s victory.
More than 140 police officers were also injured in the incident, which forced then-Vice President Mike Pence, members of Congress and his staff to flee.
Carlson’s segment drew widespread criticism, with Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger calling it “offensive.” US Senate Top Republican Mitch McConnell also condemned the broadcast, saying: “It was a mistake, in my opinion, for Fox News to present this in a way that is completely at odds with what our top Republican thinks. law enforcement officer here on Capitol Hill.”
Tucker Carlson is siding with the enemies of democracy.
This is what I just said in the plenary session of the Senate: pic.twitter.com/WZvhXh1rNU
—Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 7, 2023
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who has been accused of inciting supporters in a bid to reverse his 2020 election loss, seized on Carlson’s coverage as vindication that rioters were unfairly targeted.
“Let go of the prisoners of January 6th,” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. “They were convicted, or are awaiting trial, based on a big lie, a scam by the radical left.”
Carlson has defended his decision to run the footage. “Anyone could watch the tape and decide what they think of it,” she wrote in an article on the Fox News website on Tuesday.
‘It has gone too far’
The imbroglio is the latest headache for conservative Fox News, which has been dealing with a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit Presented by Dominion Voting Systems.
Court documents made public during the case revealed the network’s internal discussions as it weighed how to address false claims Trump and his allies made about widespread voter fraud amid concerns about declining television ratings.
The latest trove of documents revealed Tuesday shows top executives, producers and hosts expressing doubt about the “stolen elections” theory, while the network was still promoting the claims on air.
In a recently released email, Murdoch suggested that hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham may have “gone too far” in their coverage of allegations of voter fraud.
In another recently released email, Murdoch also referred to a rambling press conference by Trump ally Rudy Giuliani as “stupid and damaging.”
Previously released documents have shown prominent Fox News hosts privately expressing their disbelief while covering allegations of fraud on their shows.
In a November 16, 2020 text, Carlson said that Trump’s lawyer “Sidney Powell is lying” about having evidence of voter fraud.
In a statement released last week, Murdoch acknowledged that some of his network hosts, including Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, and Sean Hannity, endorsed false election claims.
“Yes. They backed it up,” Murdoch said when asked.
To prevail in the defamation case, Dominion Voting Systems must prove that there was “actual malice” in Fox News’ coverage, something it seeks to prove by showing that Fox knew its statements were false or recklessly ignored their accuracy.
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