Tucker Carlson Complains About Merrick Garland’s Pledge to Prosecute White Supremacists in Capitol Attack
Tucker Carlson ended Monday’s show taking issue with Merrick Garland pledging to prosecute “white supremacists” involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol. The Fox News host called that claim from the would-be attorney general “completely dishonest” and insisted there is “no proof” that white supremacists are responsible for the deadly attack.
Garland’s comment that outraged Carlson was made before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. If confirmed, Garland said, he would “supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.”
Carlson was scathing in his response: “This was not a moderate statement. It was dishonest. Completely dishonest. Dishonest enough you should be worried about it. There’s no evidence that white supremacists were responsible for what happened on January 6th. That’s a lie.”
The Fox News host’s accusation that Garland lied before the committee might strike you as baffling. You would not be mistaken. First off, Garland’s comments, which Carlson aired for his audience, were fairly clear: as attorney general, he would supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol.
That is an utterly factual and uncontroversial claim. White supremacists were very clearly part of the mob of Trump supporters that ransacked the Capitol. One was wearing a hoodie that said “Camp Auschwitz” (How would Tucker describe someone wearing that? Fox News declined to comment.) Others shouted the N-word at Black Capitol Police officers. Another man waved a Confederate flag in the halls of the Capitol Building. The event that ended in violence was organized by extremist groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
Garland did not say white supremacists were solely responsible. He said they stormed the Capitol, amongst others.
Carlson also rejected, as a lie, the claim that the mob was “armed.” This would be news to the Capitol Police officers who were beaten with baseball bats, metal pipes, and flag poles, crushed into stairs with metal barriers, and otherwise maimed.
The balance of the segment featured Julie Kelly, who is unironically chyroned as a Senior Contributor to American Greatness who details what she and Carlson agree is false reporting on the Capitol riots of Jan. 6. Or as Carlson explains it, “the lying about [the events of January 6th] is so relentless and coordinated, ‘they are white supremacist, they are armed!” adding “They were NOT white supremacist and no one used a gun when inside the capitol and the only firing was police and an unarmed protester.”
The attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 was a fateful day in U.S. history. Why someone on cable news is standing up to reject the obvious fact that white supremacists were involved in the attack remains a mystery.
Watch above via Fox News.
image via screen grab
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
