White House rebukes Carlson over portrayal of Jan. 6
In an unusual broadside against a major conservative television star, the Biden administration on Wednesday directly criticized Fox News host Tucker Carlson over his on-air portrayal of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as a largely peaceful event, a depiction the White House deemed “false.”
“We agree with the chief of the Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law — which cost police officers their lives,” a deputy White House press secretary, Andrew J. Bates, said in a statement.
“We also agree with what Fox News’ own attorneys and executives have now repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law: that Tucker Carlson is not credible,” Bates added.
The latter part of the statement referred to revelations from the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, which has led to the disclosure of extraordinary private communications among the network’s hosts and executives.
Karine Jean-pierre, the White House press secretary, repeated those remarks at a briefing with reporters Wednesday and added that Carlson’s depiction of the violent events at the Capitol “is just shameful.”
On his Monday and Tuesday night broadcasts, Carlson aired a compilation of Capitol surveillance footage from Jan. 6 and downplayed the violence that occurred.
Carlson presented the footage as evidence that the attack was an “orderly and meek” gathering of sightseers who had good reason to doubt the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
In a deposition released Tuesday, an executive at Fox News Media, David Clark, who previously oversaw Fox News’ weekend programming, said he did not consider Carlson’s program — or the program hosted by Sean Hannity — to be a “credible source of news.”
Aides to President Joe Biden have privately lamented Fox News’ negative depiction of the president and his administration, but it is rare for a White House official to issue an on-therecord criticism of the network or one of its stars by name.