McGovern Slams ‘Shameful’ Tucker Carlson on House Floor, Accuses McCarthy of ‘Aiding and Abetting’ Jan. 6 Revisionism
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) blasted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for giving Fox News host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to surveillance footage of the Capitol riot.
McCarthy gave Carlson more than 40,000 hours of security camera footage from Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Donald Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol and tried to overturn the 2020 election Trump lost. Carlson has repeatedly downplayed and outright lied about the events of that day.
On Monday, Carlson tried to rewrite the Capitol riot by showing footage of trespassers milling about in the building to suggest the violence was some sort of ancillary phenomenon, and not what injured 140 police officers. Moreover, a 42-year-old officer died of a blood clot the next day after being sprayed with an unknown substance. At least four officers who responded to the riot committed suicide. Four of the people who stormed the Capitol died.
McGovern addressed Carlson’s coverage and McCarthy’s decision to give Carlson and only Carlson the video footage:
On Monday of this week, Fox News aired an offensive, dishonest, shameful representation about what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. For nearly an hour, Tucker Carlson said that Jan. 6 was not, in fact, a violent attack on American democracy. In fact, he said it was not an attack at all. He called it a “peaceful sightseeing day,” downplayed what happened, tried to sanitize and gloss over the first responders who were attacked and died, called the people attacking our Capitol police officers – and I quote – “meek,” ran interference for a racist mob that came into these halls that day to overturn an election.
Fox News’s airing of the Capitol footage comes amid a defamation lawsuit brought against the network by Dominion Voting Systems, which some hosts and guests claimed rigged the election against Trump. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. Fox News maintains its coverage is protected by the First Amendment.
Filings in the case show private text messages between Fox News hosts and other employees, including Carlson. Based on the texts, the host did not appear to believe Trump’s widespread claims of voter fraud. Yet, as recently as this week, Carlson continues to promote those falsehoods to viewers.
McGovern pointed to text messages from Carlson that were unsealed, showing the Fox News host
“I’m furious for the staff who thought they were going to die,” he said. “Jan. 6 was an attack on our democracy. And now Tucker Carlson has chosen to side with the enemies of democracy. What’s most alarming all of this, what’s most dangerous, is that he was aided and abetted by Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. I have to say, this is a new low.”
McGovern called McCarthy’s actions “treacherous” and “beyond the pale.” He then cited some of Carlson’s texts.
“On Nov. 21, 2020, Carlson said in private texts that lies about voter fraud were – and I quote – ‘shockingly reckless,’ and called the very conspiracy theories he was promoting on the air as insane and absurd to his colleagues,” McGovern continued. “He called those propagating the big lie – and I quote again – ‘dangerous as hell.’ He knew that claims the election was stolen were dangerous lies.”
Watch above via C-SPAN.
