Fox News host Tucker Carlson called out Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York Tuesday in response to what he said was a “call for censorship.”
“Chuck Schumer went on the Senate floor today to explode and to say that showing that video, evidence of wrongdoing by the federal government, including the security forces, the police department that Nancy Pelosi personally controlled, letting the public see any of that is a threat to democracy,” Carlson, a co-founder of the Daily Caller and honorary board member of the Daily Caller News Foundation, said. (RELATED: CNN Host Claims McCarthy Is Bribing Tucker Carlson With Jan. 6 Footage)
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a primetime cable news anchor manipulate his viewers the way Mr. Carlson did last night,” Senate Majority Leader Schumer claimed Tuesday morning from the Senate floor after the Fox News host aired video footage of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the speaker of the House, provided Carlson access to over 41,000 hours of video footage of the Capitol riot, Axios reported. Previous reports indicated that the amount of footage was 14,000 hours.
“You don’t often see the Senate majority leader openly call for censorship on the floor of the Senate as if that was totally normal and didn’t contradict the spirit and the letter of the First Amendment,” Carlson said, before calling out Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mitt Romney of Utah for siding with Schumer.
McConnell criticized Carlson for releasing the footage Tuesday, citing a letter from Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who criticized Carlson’s use of footage showing Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick walking on Jan. 6. Sicknick died after suffering two strokes, the D.C. medical examiner ruled.
“From this, we learn two things: One, you’re getting close to what they really care about. And you have to ask yourself why? Why is it so important that they would degrade themselves by telling such obvious lies and calling for censorship? Why? What are they trying to protect?” Carlson asked. “That might be worth exploring and we plan to. And the second thing we learned from this is that they’re on the same side. The Senate majority leader joins the Senate minority leader. Thom Tillis, Mitt Romney. They’re all on the same side!”