Tucker Carlson attempted to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot by insisting what actually happened was not what we all saw with our own eyes.
On Monday, the Fox News host aired some of the more than 40,000 hours of surveillance video his show was given access to by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Carlson has repeatedly downplayed the Capitol riot, where a mob of Donald Trump supporters attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results being certified by Congress. Trump had spent two months lying to them about how the election had been stolen and the rioters succeeded in delaying the process for several hours. Four people died in the melee. A 42-year-old Capitol police officer who was sprayed with an unknown substance at the Capitol died of a stroke the next day. At least two officers who responded to the riot died of suicide shortly after. More than 100 officers were injured.
“The protestors were angry. They believed the election they had just voted in had been unfairly conducted. They were right,” said Carlson, who apparently thinks nothing of repeating the same falsehood that spawned the insurrection in the first place. “In retrospect, it is clear the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy. Given the facts that have since emerged about that election, no honest person can deny it.”
Carlson then aired a few minutes of surveillance footage that showed trespassers not committing violence
“The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress,” he said. “Taken as a whole, the video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim. And that’s exactly why the Democratic Party and its allies in the media prevented you from seeing it. By controlling the images you are allowed to view from Jan. 6, they controlled how the public understood that day. They could lie about what happened and you would never know the difference.”
Carlson then referred to the people in the Capitol that day as mere “sightseers” and insisted they actually had reverence for the building.
The host acknowledged the presence of a handful of violent “hooligans,” but tried to downplay the riot by saying most who were present weren’t violent.
“The overwhelming majority weren’t [violent],” he said. “They were peaceful. They were orderly and meek. These were not insurrectionists. They were sightseers. Footage from inside the Capitol overturns the story you’ve heard about Jan. 6. Protesters queue up in neat little lines. They give each other tours outside the speaker’s office. They take cheerful selfies and they smile. They’re not destroying Capitol. They obviously revere the Capitol. They’re there because they believe
Watch above via Fox News.