The release of surveillance footage of the Capitol attack and testimonies from a Fox News talk show host have caused outrage in the United States. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy exclusively leaked tens of thousands of hours of video footage of the Capitol storming to his party’s well-disposed moderator Tucker Carlson. The right-wing talk show host showed selected images on Monday and Tuesday evening (local time) and commented on them in the spirit of ex-President Donald Trump: He had repeatedly falsely claimed that only peaceful demonstrators were out and about at the time. Tucker also referred to the mob as “tourists” or “visitors.” In doing so, he reinforces the often-repeated conspiracy narrative that the storming of the Capitol was hyped by the mainstream press to vilify former President Trump.
Carlson also implied on his show, during the airing of the video footage, that the death of Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of a stroke a day after a confrontation with intruders during the storming of the Capitol, had been exaggerated and exploited. “They knew he wasn’t murdered by the mob, but they still claimed it was,” Carlson said.
Carlson “picked raisins”
According to Bloomberg news agency, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said Carlson “cherished the more harmless moments” of January 6th. He emphasized that Sicknick would not have died the next day “if he had not fought bravely for hours on the day he was violently attacked”.
Carlson has even been criticized by the Republican Party. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that he believed the Capitol Police Chief “accurately described what most of us witnessed firsthand on Jan. 6.”
When asked if McCarthy made a mistake in providing the video to Carlson, McConnell declined to answer. “In my view, it was a mistake that Fox News presented this in a way that is totally at odds with what our chief police officer is thinking here in the Capitol,” he said.
Moderator Carlson Tucker is known for spreading conspiracy theories and obviously false reports and inciting against minorities. He has a daily evening show on Fox News, which has an average of over three million viewers.