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Fox News slammed after Tucker Carlson boasts about REFUSING to cover Jan 6 hearing: 'Too scared to air'

Fox News came under fire after it said it would carry live coverage of the hearing only on Fox Business Network and other streaming, digital platforms

In the first few hearings on the January 6 insurrection seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the ultimate culpability for the day’s events were placed on former president Donald Trump. According to Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the panel, Trump “lit the flame of this attack”. The House select committee is investigating the attack on the capitol. At the hearing, witnesses spoke up about their experiences with law enforcement on the receiving end of the violence by the mob. Additionally, various former Trump officials clarified that claims of fraud were not credible. According to Republican lawmakers, the hearings are a “witch hunt”.

As other channels covered the hearing live, Fox News host Tucker Carlson began his show on Thursday, June 9, by boasting about how his network will not be covering the proceedings live on its main cable channel. “This is the only hour on an American news channel that won’t be covering their propaganda live,” Carlson said of the committee. “They are lying and we are not going to help them do it.”

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The proceedings were continuously covered by all major television networks and cable channels, including NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN. Fox News came under fire and was slammed by Democrats after it announced it would carry live continuous coverage of the hearing only on Fox Business Network, as well as its other streaming, and digital platforms. Its coverage will be available to its local affiliates too. 

On his show, Carlson also claimed that the “most disturbing” part of that day was not the bloodthirsty mob assaulting officers, but Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC) telling Capitol police to use their guns to protect the Capitol. “I think the most disturbing moment a year and a half later, looking back, is the moment when Lindsey Graham turned to the Capitol Police and said, ‘You have guns. Use them,’” Carlson said.

Carlson called the hearing deranged” and “insulting", and refused to “play along.” He welcomed his show guests including Rep Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), right-wing pundit Michael Tracey and Darren Beattie. Beattie, a one-time speechwriter for former president Donald Trump, was once asked to leave the White House for speaking at a white supremacist conference.

Fox News has been widely criticized for refusing to air the proceedings. Journalist Dan Rather wrote on Twitter, "Fox News might not be showing these hearings. But the hearings have come for Fox News. Not surprising. Utterly beyond the pale." Hillary Clinton said, "Fox News won't air the January 6 hearings because they prefer their sedition made fresh on-site."

Historian Kevin Michael Kruse wrote, "If you needed a reason to watch the January 6th hearings tonight, the simple fact that Fox News is too scared to air them should do it." "Fox “News” ran 1,098 primetime segments on Benghazi from the attack until the committee hearings, which they carried live for over 7 hours. Today the network announced it won’t cover the hearings on the January 6th insurrection. Conclusive proof that Fox isn’t NEWS at all," legal scholar Laurence Tribe said. ".@FoxNews is afraid to televise the hearings. The network is afraid," said former Congressman Joe Walsh .