Tucker Carlson revels in congressional ‘hysteria’ over Jan. 6 footage

Fox News host Tucker Carlson mocked the criticism he received on Tuesday from congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), during the second night of his prime-time show focusing on the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

“They’re all on the same side. So it’s actually not about left and right. It’s not about Republicans and Democrats. Here, you have people with shared interests….The people who, underneath it all, have everything in common are all aligned against everyone else,” Carlson said. 

McConnell in a press conference earlier Tuesday said he wanted to associate himself “with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol police about what happened on Jan. 6,” referring to Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, who said that Carlson’s Monday night show was filled with “offensive and misleading conclusions about the Jan. 6 attack.”

Carlson used security footage to argue on his Monday night show that the violence on Jan. 6 was “mostly peaceful chaos.” The network said 3.6 million people watched Carlson’s show on Monday, a notable bump from the 3 million the host typically averages per weeknight. 

Schumer said on the Senate floor earlier in the day that Carlson’s show was “one of the most shameful hours we’ve seen on cable television,” calling on Fox News and its owner Rupert Murdoch to tell Carlson to not air more security footage.