Tucker SMASHES Lying Chuck Schumer For Claiming He Is ‘Siding With the Enemies of Democracy’

Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans spent more than two years trying to convince the American public that what happened on January 6, 2021 came close to toppling the U.S. government and undermining our very democracy.

But the video and testimony presented by the January 6th committee was selectively edited, omitting segments that would give a fuller picture of what happened on that day.

Some of the neglected video, from surveillance cameras in the Capitol, aired Monday on Fox News, prompting outrage among the political class, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“I condemn Mr. Carlson for siding with the enemies of Democracy,” said a furious Schumer in a lengthy denunciation of Tucker Carlson, Fox News, and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in a speech on the Senate floor.

That prompted the following defense from Tucker Carlson hours later, on Tuesday night:

“So we felt it was a public service to bring what we could to you,” Carlson said.

“There was no justification for keeping the secret any longer — and a powerful argument to be made that sunlight is always and everywhere the best disinfectant. And, in fact, because it was video evidence, it is, to some extent, self-explanatory. Anyone could look at the tape and decide what he or she thinks of it.”

Here’s what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer thought of it:

“Last night, millions of Americans tuned into one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on cable television. With contempt for the facts, disregard of the risks, and knowing full well he was lying — lying to his audience, Fox News host Tucker Carlson ran a lengthy segment last night arguing the January 6th Capitol attack was not a violent insurrection.”

Schumer accused Carlson of “cherry-picking” the video segments he aired.

And that’s exactly what Carlson says Democrats did with their video presentation:

“So the tape we showed last night indicated very clearly that Capitol Hill police, in some cases, escorted protesters through the Capitol as if they were giving a tour. They did that with Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon shaman. At one point, they even tried to open locked doors on Chansley’s behalf.

“Chansley was sentenced to four years in prison for his crimes in the Capitol on January 6th. And the video we showed you last night raises the obvious question — why? On what grounds?

“The video we showed you last night also showed that Officer Brian Sicknick wasn’t beaten to death with a fire extinguisher by protesters on January 6^th, as the media and Liz Chaney so often claimed. The video showed Sicknick walking around the building apparently in good health after he was supposedly killed. We showed you that video. You can make of it what you will.

“We also showed you video that proves Ray Epps, the mysterious protester who encouraged others to breach the Capitol, lied to the January 6th committee about where he was on that day. But for some reason, the committee protected him anyway. He was not considered an insurrectionist; he was their ally.

“So, once again, you can draw whatever conclusions you like from that video. We have ours, and we shared them with you. But it’s really beyond debate that it is good for this country, for Americans to be able to see it.

“The media and politicians — the people in charge — have talked about January 6th every day since it happened for 26 months. And so at some point, the evidence should be presented to the public.

“In free countries, governments do not lie about protests as a pretext to gain more power for themselves. They don’t selectively edit videos for propaganda services and then lie about them in fake hearings and show trials, but that’s exactly what happened. And every member of Congress should ask why that happened.

“But Democrats in the Senate — the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer — is not asking why.”

Schumer accused Carlson of trying to portray the January 6 violence at the Capitol as “nothing more than a peaceful sightseeing tour.”

“I, so many others who were here in the Capitol, and millions and millions of other Americans are just furious with Tucker Carlson and Kevin McCarthy today,” Schumer fumed.

“To say January 6 was not violent is a lie — a lie, plain and simple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a prime time cable news anchor manipulate his viewers the way Mr. Carlson did last night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an anchor treat the American people and American democracy with such disdain.”

Schumer noted that Carlson was planning to show more video on Tuesday night. “Fox News should tell him not to. Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, tell Carlson not to run a second segment of lies. You know it’s a lie, you’ve admitted it’s a lie. And Speaker McCarthy is every bit as culpable as Mr. Carlson.”

(Schumer said McCarthy has “enabled the big lie” and catered to the “hard right” by giving Carlson the video he aired.)

“We all, Americans of all types and stripes and corners of this country; Democrats, Republicans, independents, need to take a stand and call out Mr. Carlson’s conduct for what it is — a dangerous unforgivable attempt to destabilize our democracy and rewrite the history of the worst attack on our Constitution since the Civil War,” Schumer said.

“I hope every member of this chamber will call out Fox and Mr. Carlson for defending the insurrectionists,” Schumer said.

Carlson noted that he showed the public “video that it paid for and has a right to see.” And he said Schumer is demanding censorship of that video because it “damages the story line his party constructed and used.”

“Because that video contradicted lies told by the Democratic party, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, Chuck Schumer demanded that our bosses pull this show off the air.”

Carlson noted that you don’t often see the Senate Majority Leader openly call for censorship on the floor of the Senate: “But what’s really happening here?” Carlson asked.

“What you’re seeing is hysteria, the overstatement, the crazed hyperbole, the red-in-the-face anger. What is that? It’s not outrage. Of course, it’s fear, it’s panic.

“Those videos, which we did not retouch — which we brought to you after running every one by the Capitol Police to make certain we didn’t imperil anybody…those videos touch a nerve because they’re a threat to the lies Chuck Schumer has been telling for the last 26 months, and not just Chuck Schumer.

“We should also tell that you Chuck Schumer, Senate majority leader, was joined in this outrage by the Senate minority leader, and that would be a Republican, Mitch McConnell. And they were joined by a cascade of other Republicans, Tom Tillis from North Carolina. Mitt Romney from Utah, all sharing the same outrage.

“And from this, we learn two things: One, you’re getting close to what they really care about…What are they trying to protect?”

Carlson said the second thing we learned is that those Democrats and those Republicans are all “on the same side.”

“So it’s actually not about left and right. It’s not about Republican and Democrat. Here you have people with shared interests. …they’re all in agreement with each other,” Carlson said.

“They kind of outed themselves. They sort of showed their membership cards in whatever club this is to the public. So keep a list. If you want to know who is actually lying despite the illusion of partisanship, we found out today.”