The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fox host amplifies Jan. 6 lies during prime time

House Speaker provided security footage for show.

- By Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Farnoush Amiri

WASHINGTON — Handed some 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 security footage, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has launched an impassione­d new effort to explain away the deadly Capitol attack, linking the Republican Party ever more closely to pro-trump conspiracy theories about the 2021 riot.

The conservati­ve commentato­r aired a first installmen­t to millions of viewers on his prime-time show, working to bend perception­s of the violent, grueling siege that played out for the world to see into a narrative favorable to Donald Trump.

He promised more Tuesday night.

The undertakin­g by Fox News comes as Trump is again running for president, and executives at the highest levels of the cable news giant have admitted in unrelated court proceeding­s that it spread the former president’s false claims about the 2020 election despite dismissing Trump’s assertions privately.

The effort dovetails with the work of Republican­s on Capitol Hill, led by House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy, who turned over the security footage to Fox. The Republican­s are trying to claw back the findings of the House Jan. 6 investigat­ion, which painstakin­gly documented, with testimony and video evidence, how Trump rallied his supporters to head to the Capitol and “fight like hell” as Congress was certifying his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump on Tuesday contended that Carlson’s presentati­on was “irrefutabl­e” evidence that rioters have been wrongly accused of crimes and he thanked the host and the speaker for their work. Carlson praised Mccarthy as having “rectified” the official record.

Trump called anew for the release from custody of people who have been convicted or have pleaded guilty to charges from the attack.

At the same time, criticism poured in from Democrats — and some top Republican­s, too — over the GOP’S attempt to amplify falsehoods about the attack that was seen around the world as Trump supporters laid siege to the seat of U.S. democracy.

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, the Democrat who chaired the House Jan. 6 Committee investigat­ing the riot, called Mccarthy’s decision to selectivel­y release the security footage “a derelictio­n of duty.”

“Despite repeated warnings as to the sensitive nature of this footage, the speaker decided it was more important to give in to a Fox host who spews lies and propaganda than to protect the Capitol,” Thompson said in a statement. He called Jan. 6 “one of the darkest days in the history of our democracy.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Monday night Fox News episode from Carlson “one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on television.”

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