It was about a week ago when Fox News’ Tucker Carlson started taking full advantage of his exclusive access to Jan. 6 security camera footage. Thanks to the special treatment the controversial television personality received from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Carlson was able to cherry-pick portions of the videos to tell the story that suited his political agenda.
This did not go unnoticed. Congressional Democrats were outraged, as were White House officials. News organizations published a series of reports making clear that Carlson’s coverage painted a twisted picture. Several congressional Republicans dismissed the Fox host’s coverage as wrong — one GOP senator went so far as to call it “bull—-“ — while U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger was incensed, slamming Carlson for spreading “offensive and misleading conclusions” about the insurrectionist violence, adding some of the host’s on-air assertions were “outrageous and false.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell soon after endorsed and associated himself with Manger’s criticisms.
But as it turns out, federal prosecutors weren’t pleased, either. My MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin highlighted a Justice Department filing over the weekend that pushed back against Carlson’s deceptive framing.
Sunday’s filing by the DOJ came in response to Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola’s motion to dismiss the government’s case against him, citing Carlson’s March 6 show on Fox News. Pezzola, who is now on trial, is charged with seditious conspiracy and other counts in connection with Jan. 6. … Pezzola’s attempt to use Carlson’s ploy to free himself of charges allowed the DOJ to effectively call out the Fox News host’s scheme.
Though federal prosecutors were more diplomatic than some on Capitol Hill, they were just as eager to discredit Carlson’s chosen footage. “Once tethered to facts and reality, defendant Pezzola’s arguments quickly unravel,” prosecutors wrote.
Of course, the seditious conspiracy charges against Pezzola make his case especially notable, but as NBC News reported, the defendant isn’t the only one trying to use the Fox News program as part of their legal strategy:
In motions and on social media, Jan. 6 defendants and their supporters are convinced that a couple of out-of-context clips of security video that Carlson’s team aired, along with a database of video that Carlson had access to thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are going to break their cases open. Some have even suggested the tapes could spring people caught on tape violently assaulting police officers on Jan. 6 from prison.
Carlson, in other words, hasn’t just drawn fire from lawmakers, journalists, the Capitol Police, and federal prosecutors, he’s also giving “false hope“ to Jan. 6 defendants — many of whom don’t realize how deceptive his coverage has been.
With this in mind, the list of Carlson critics seems likely to keep growing.
