Tucker Carlson – news: Fox host defends Q Shaman, attacks trans people and Nato as White House brands him ‘shameful’

Tucker Carlson continued to double-down on his defence of the Capitol rioters in the latest instalment of his Fox News show on Thursday, interviewing the mother and attorney of “Q Shaman” Jacob Chansley to insist he had been wrongly jailed over his part in the attack.

He also lashed out at transgender people by accusing them of taking over International Women’s Day and allowed former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard to push a Russian propaganda line blaming Nato for the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline during an interview.

Shockingly, Mr Carlson also referred to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as a “despot” and questioned his demand for F-16s and US aide commitments to his country.

Lastly, he interviewed Simon Ateba, a Today News Africa journalist who claims he is being silenced by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and banished from its annual Correspondents’ Dinner for asking too many inconvenient questions. Sure Simon.

All that, and sheep escaping from a New Jersey slaughterhouse!

Here are some “highlights”.

Ahmed Baba writes:

There is no better indication of the deep divides within the Republican Party than their reaction to Tucker Carlson’s depiction of January 6 on Fox News. After Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) handed the Fox host over 40,000 hours of Capitol footage, Carlson aired some of the footage seeking to depict the insurrection as peaceful. This caused a firestorm not only from pro-democracy liberals but from within the GOP itself. Ultimately, this is resulting in an internal debate of whether or not the party will continue to embrace the Big Lie and Donald Trump.

Cooper spoke with former DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fannone, who was assaulted during the riot. The pair discussed Carlson’s recent insistence that the rioters who attacked the Capitol and its police on 6 January 2021 in attempt to keep Donald Trump in power were simply “sightseers.”

Graig Graziosi reports on Cooper’s takedown of Carlson.

Tucker Carlson blasted his bipartisan critics in Congress as “sociopaths” during a broadcast on Wednesday and accused attorney general Merrick Garland of lying about the number of police officers killed during the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol.

It’s the latest headline-grabbing moment after the Fox News host caused controversy throughout the week by airing selectively chosen clips to claim falsely that the riots at the Capitol in 2021 weren’t violent.

Josh Marcus filed this report on Wednesday night.

On his show late on Wednesday, the Fox News host said that Antifa had “descended on Washington, DC to force the sitting president out of office”, referring to the 2020 protests. “But it was Trump, so that’s cool,” he said.

Carlson has made problematic comments on the BLM movement in the past as well.

Maroosha Muzaffar reports.

Senator Chuck Schumer has called out House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s reaction to Tucker Carlson’s depiction of the Capitol riot as “peaceful” on Fox News, calling him a “January 6th denier”.

“Those of us who were here on January 6th know the attack was a violent insurrection—including Speaker McCarthy,” Mr Schumer tweeted. “Every leader on Capitol Hill has done the right thing calling out Fox News’s lies—except for Speaker McCarthy.”

He added: “The Speaker is outing himself as a January 6th denier.”

“We agree with the chief of the Capitol Police and the wide range of bipartisan lawmakers who have condemned this false depiction of the unprecedented, violent attack on our Constitution and the rule of law – which cost police officers their lives,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement obtained by The Independent.

Gustaf Kilander reports.

Former Fox host Gretchen Carlson is joining the pile-on against her old network after its star opinion host Tucker Carlson predictably used exclusive access to security footage from January 6 to falsely depict the attack on Congress as a peaceful protest.

Ms Carlson, who bears no relation to her former colleague, furiously denounced the network and criticised the channel’s journalists for covering Mr Carlson’s remarks and the resulting backlash as if they are somehow unattached from the situation.

John Bowden filed this report.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who has said she feared for her life on the day of the insurrection, told The Independent that Mr McCarthy’s actions made the Capitol less safe.

Eric Garcia reports from Capitol Hill.

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” Carlson told an unknown Fox News employee just two days before the January 6 Capitol riot, according to the court documents. “I truly can’t wait.”

“I hate him passionately,” he added.

Josh Marcus reports.