Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Capitol Police chief tears into Tucker Carlson for claims about Officer Brian Sicknick

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/capitol-police-chief-tears-tucker-carlson-claims-officer-brian-sicknic-rcna73813

WASHINGTON — U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger ripped Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday for spreading “offensive and misleading conclusions” about the Jan. 6 insurrection, including a “disturbing accusation” about Officer Brian Sicknick’s death that also drew rebukes from his family and partner.

Officer Brian Sicknick: What We Know About His Death WSJ

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/officer-brian-sicknick-what-we-know-about-his-death-11619010119

Washington’s medical examiner found this week that Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died a natural death on Jan. 7, a day after he clashed with protesters at the Capitol. That official determination, coming months after the event, was at odds with earlier assertions by Capitol Police that Mr. Sicknick succumbed to injuries incurred during the Capitol riot. Here is how the account of Mr. Sicknick’s death unfolded.

Death of Brian Sicknick

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Brian_Sicknick

Within hours of Sicknick's death, the Capitol Police released a statement late January 7 that Sicknick died "due to injuries sustained while on-duty" while "physically engaging with protesters" at the Capitol.[31] On January 8, the United States Department of Justice published a statement by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen, which attributed Sicknick's death "to injuries he suffered defending the U.S. Capitol, against the violent mob who stormed it".[8] Months later on April 19, the medical examiner reported that there was no evidence that Sicknick had any injuries.[1]

Officer Brian Sicknick Died After the Capitol Riot. New Videos Show How He Was Attacked.

 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/24/us/officer-sicknick-capitol-riot.html

That evening, Officer Sicknick texted his brother to say he had been “pepper-sprayed” but was in “good shape,” his brother told ProPublica. But shortly before 10 p.m., according to the Capitol Police, he collapsed after returning to his division office and was taken to a local hospital. At some point over the next 24 hours, Officer Sicknick’s condition apparently deteriorated. He was put on a ventilator and treated for a blood clot and a stroke, his brother said. He died at about 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 7.

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Tucker Carlson ripped by Capitol Police, GOP senators for mischaracterizing Jan. 6

 https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/capitol-police-jan-6-carlson-00085904

And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell held up Manger’s letter during his weekly briefing with reporters, saying that he would “associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol Police about what happened on January 6th.”


Tucker’s Jan. 6 Bombshell? Josh Hawley Wasn’t the Only Senator Running

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-spins-josh-hawley-jan-6-video-as-a-lie-because-others-fled-too?source=articles&via=rss

It’s unclear how exactly other lawmakers fleeing ahead of Hawley makes the video of him doing so a “lie.” Nevertheless, former President Donald Trump agreed with Carlson’s sentiment, demanding the prosecutions of committee members in a Truth Social post.

What to know about the Tucker Carlson January 6 footage

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/06/politics/tucker-carlson-january-6-footage/index.html 

The new Sicknick footage does not disprove the medical examiner’s conclusion that January 6 influenced Sicknick’s death, and it doesn’t erase the fact that Trump supporters assaulted Sicknick that day.

Fox News stands in legal peril. It says defamation loss would harm all media

 https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1161221798/if-fox-news-loses-defamation-dominion-media

In its legal briefs, Fox leans heavily on the idea that news organizations must be allowed to convey allegations by major public figures to their audiences — even wild allegations. Rutgers' Chen says that doesn't hold up if Fox was motivated by profit instead of the newsworthiness of the claims being presented in its programs.

"The fact that there was arguably a motive by Fox to publish these accusations against Dominion based on its own economic interests in retaining Trump viewers would, if believed by the jury, probably destroy that argument," Chen says.

Tucker Carlson, with video provided by Speaker McCarthy, falsely depicts Jan. 6 riot as a peaceful gathering

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/tucker-carlson-new-video-provided-speaker-mccarthy-falsely-depicts-jan-rcna73673

Video that Carlson didn’t air shows police and rioters engaged in hours of violent combat that resulted in injuries to hundreds of police officers. Two pipe bombs were also planted nearby but were not detonated.

Tucker Carlson releases exclusive Jan. 6 footage, says politicians, media lied about Sicknick, 'QAnon Shaman'

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/tucker-carlson-releases-exclusive-jan-6-footage-says-politicians-media-lied-about-sicknick-qanon-shaman

New York Post columnist Miranda Devine called the charges against Chansley "very sad," saying that the footage proves that he was "harmless." 

"You can see the way those people were walking through the Capitol… they are walking meekly, politely queuing, very peaceable. They don't mean any harm. They are treating the Capitol with reverence," Devine told Carlson. "That doesn't excuse the others, the minority of the protesters who did break windows and fight police and injure police and cause mayhem. But the people who are now being picked up and some of them have been jailed without trial for months, even years on end, did not commit violence. They walked through open doors, they were escorted by police, they felt that this was okay. And I think Jacob Chansley is a classic example of that."

Tucker Carlson shows the first of his Jan. 6 footage, calls it ‘mostly peaceful chaos’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3887103-tucker-carlson-shows-the-first-of-his-jan-6-footage-calls-it-mostly-peaceful-chaos/

As he opened his show Monday, Carlson described the anger among supporters of then-President Trump in the weeks leading to the Capitol riot, noting “they believed the election they had just voted in had been unfairly conducted.” 

“They were right. 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,” he said. “No honest person can deny it. Yet the beneficiaries of that election continue to lie about what is now obvious.” 

Tucker Carlson Describes Jan. 6 Rioters as 'Sightseers' in Footage Reveal

 https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-describes-jan-6-rioters-sightseers-footage-reveal-1785905

Fox News host Tucker Carlson says that video footage taken from inside the U.S. Capitol shows that the January 6 rioters were mere "sightseers."

The conservative pundit said during a Tucker Carlson Tonight broadcast on Monday that the small portion of the footage, some of more than 40,000 hours of tape provided to him by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, did not show an "insurrection or a riot in progress."

Carlson claimed, without evidence, that the Democratic Party and the media had conspired to suppress the footage because it "demolishes" the narrative of a riot taking place, while conceding that some of those who breached the Capitol were "hooligans."