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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tore into Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson for his January 6 coverage after obtaining Capitol security footage – calling him ‘not credible.’
Her comment came as President Joe Biden asked ‘how dare anyone’ diminish the ‘hell’ that officers protecting the building went through that day.
Jean-Pierre went after the top-rated cable host by name, even referencing statements by Fox News lawyers in response to a Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit – a case that revealed Carlson saying he ‘hates’ Donald Trump, according to court documents.
‘We agree with the chief of Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers … We have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law, which cost police officers their lives,’ she said.
‘And that’s what we saw on that day, on a very dark day and attack on our democracy,’ she said of January 6.
White House Press Secretary Jean-Pierre quoted NPR and Washington Post accounts of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, calling him ‘not credible’ following his reports on January 6 based on Capitol security footage he obtained
Biden echoed her blast with a tweet, which linked to a post from the chief of U.S. Capitol Police taking on ‘misleading conclusions’ about the report.
‘More than 140 officers were injured on Jan 6. I’ve said before: How dare anyone diminish or deny the hell they went through? I stand with the @CapitolPolice,’ Biden wrote. ‘I hope House Republicans feel ashamed for what was done to undermine our law enforcement.’
Jean-Pierre relied on third parties to deliver remarks that undercut Carlson further, referencing media reports in the saga of Dominion’s $1.6 billion suit against the network.
‘And so we also, as it relates to the Tucker Carlson question, we agree with the Fox nation’s own attorneys and executives, who have repeatedly stressed – and multiple courts of law – that target Tucker Carlson is not credible when it comes to this issue in particular’, she said.
‘And we have, you know, NPR back in back in September of 2020. They had the following. You literally can’t believe the facts Tucker Carlson tells you, so say Fox’s, lawyers, again, in Washington Post most recently, just last week, just a day ago. Fox executive [Sean] Hannity [and] Carlson shows are not credible sources of news.’
‘So to have said what he said, when we when we saw Capitol police officers, or police officers, lose their lives, is just shameful,’ she added.
Jean-Pierre was referencing Carlson’s reporting since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy handed over thousands of hours of security footage. Carlson sought to portray the event as a peaceful event.
‘They were peaceful, they were orderly and meek. These were not insurrectionists, they were sightseers,’ Carlson said, blasting the House Jan. 6th Committee, which featured videos and images of rioters clashing violently with police.
Tucker Carlson is seen in July 2022 with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Trump at his New Jersey golf course. Carlson in January 2021 said he hated Trump ‘passionately.’ ‘Said Jean-Pierre: ‘And so we also, as it relates to the Tucker Carlson question, we agree with the Fox nation’s own attorneys and executives, who have repeatedly stressed – and multiple courts of law – that target Tucker Carlson is not credible’
She was also calling attention to a 2020 NPR story with a headline Jean-Pierre quoted. It cited arguments put forward by Fox lawyers in a defamation suit, where the judge wrote that ‘Fox persuasively argues, that given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer “arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism” about the statement he makes.’
The blasts from the White House elevated the host and his claims hours after the latest revelations from legal filings in the Dominion suit.
Carlson confessed to his producer that he ‘hated Trump passionately’, according to files unsealed by a judge on Tuesday as part of the Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit.
Dominion is suing Carlson’s network, Fox News, in a $1.6 billion case, claiming that the media company defamed the voting firm by questioning their technology and methods. Fox is fiercely contesting the allegations.
On Tuesday, Carlson’s private messages were among a trove of emails and other communications unsealed by the judge.
Carlson, one of the biggest stars of the conservative channel, texted Alex Pfeiffer on January 4, 2021, the suit claims, to say he was looking forward to a post-Trump era.
‘We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait,’ he allegedly said, according to the lawsuit.
‘I hate him passionately. I blew up at Peter Navarro today in frustration,’ he allegedly wrote, referring to the former Trump administration official.
‘I actually like Peter. But I can’t handle much more of this.’ Fox has denied Dominion’s claims, and insists many of the messages shared in the lawsuit have been taken out of context.
A spokesperson said: ‘Thanks to today’s filings, Dominion has been caught red handed again using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press.
‘We already know they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but to twist and even misattribute quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly beyond the pale.’
Carlson is seen in 2019 interviewing the then-president
Carlson allegedly wrote in another text message: ‘That’s the last four years. We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn’t really an upside to Trump.’
Carlson himself has complained on air about how news reporters appear to ‘hate Trump with an all-consuming mania.’
The former president is said to have been a huge fan of Carlson’s show, with topics covered by the Fox News host helping steer White House policies.
The text messages also showed significant discontent within Fox about the decision to call, correctly, Arizona for Joe Biden.
Carlson complained, according to the suit, that doing so was harming Fox’s share price.
Pfeiffer allegedly wrote in a November 20, 2020 email to an unidentified person that there was ‘one funny thing’ about the election voting fraud claims.
‘Dominion was used in Ohio and Florida,’ he wrote.
‘Trump won them. Did they forget to rig those or all part of the plan?’
The exchanges allegedly show host Laura Ingraham complaining about Fox calling states for Biden, saying: ‘My anger at the news channel is pronounced.’
Carlson agreed, reportedly replying: ‘It should be.’
Fox News’s headquarters, in midtown Manhattan
Rupert Murdoch, left, is pictured with Trump in 2016
He said he was equally angry at the network’s reporting of the results, and the anchors and hosts who were confirming Biden’s win.
‘We devote our lives to building an audience and they let Chris Wallace and Leland [expletive] Vittert wreck it. Too much,’ Carlson said, according to the suit.
On November 16, 2020, Ingraham texted Carlson and Sean Hannity again to complain about their employer.
‘We are all officially working for an organization that hates us,’ she wrote.
The exchange is part of a lengthy conversation among the three about how their news colleagues were hurting ratings.
Another news host, Maria Bartiromo, allegedly texted Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon on November 10, 2020 to say she was devastated at the results.
‘Omg I’m so depressed. I can’t take this,’ she reportedly told Bannon, noting how upsetting it was to watch the ‘world move forward.’
‘I want to see massive fraud exposed. Will he be able to turn this around,’ she added, referring to Trump.
‘I told my team we are not allowed to say pres elect at all. Not in scripts or in banners on air. Until this moves through the courts.’
Bannon replied: ‘You are our fighter. Enough with the sad! We need u.’
Rupert Murdoch, owner of the network, worried privately that his stars had gone too far in their claims that the election was stolen.
In his email to CEO Suzanne Scott on January 21, 2021 – the day after Biden’s inauguration – Murdoch said he was being criticized for the network’s insistence that the election was stolen, the suit claims.
‘Still getting mud thrown at us!’ Murdoch wrote. ‘Maybe Sean and Laura went too far.’
He also asked Scott whether it was ‘unarguable that high profile Fox voices fed the story that the election was stolen and that January 6th an important chance to have the result overturned.’
Murdoch had shortly after the election predicted that Trump would fade away and become irrelevant.
‘And losing tons of viewers – but not leadership yet!’ Murdoch wrote.
‘Just have to hold our nerve and up our game! In another month Trump will be becoming irrelevant and we’ll have lots to say about Biden, Dems, and appointments – so far pretty dull.’
Maria Bartiromo (pictured) told Steve Bannon she was ‘so depressed’ by Biden’s win
A sign outside Fox’s headquarters promoting, from left: Jesse Watters, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Greg Gutfeld
After the January 6 riot, Murdoch said, according to the suit, that he felt Trump’s brand was significantly harmed.
‘His businesses now ruined!’ he said, in an email to his son Lachlan – who runs the network – and former House Speaker Paul Ryan.
‘Who is going to throw a party at one of his golf clubs or hotels? Let alone a tournament.
‘So he has more than just legal problems, bad though they are.
‘The brand is now poison! Who wants Ivanka’s fashion lines, jewelry, etc?!’
Fox News has said it was ‘proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism’.
They are contesting Dominion’s lawsuit, saying it is only to create publicity for their voting machines.
Dominion argues that the First Amendment does not allow media outlets to broadcast conspiracy theories they know are false.
‘As the dominant media company among those viewers dissatisfied with the election results, Fox gave these fictions a prominence they otherwise would never have achieved,’ Dominion state in their 441-page lawsuit.
‘With Fox’s global platform, an audience of hundreds of millions, and the inevitable and extensive republication and dissemination of the falsehoods through social media, these lies deeply damaged Dominion’s once-thriving business.
‘Fox took a small flame and turned it into a forest fire.’
Carlson and the other hosts have not responded to the publication of their messages.
Superior Court Judge Eric Davis is scheduled to preside over a trial beginning in mid-April.
The trial could stretch over five weeks.
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