Capitol Police chief accuses Tucker Carlson of using ‘cherry-picked’ Jan 6 footage to push agenda

Fox News host Tucker Carlson is facing widespread condemnation after his latest attempt to change the truth to better suit Donald Trump’s needs.

The primetime host even found himself criticised by Capitol Police, the very organisation whose officers suffered the most at the hands of Carlson’s ideological allies on the day that they stormed the US Capitol and attempted to stop the certification of the 2020 election.

It all began with an episode of Carlson’s show airing Monday evening, the first of several set to feature footage from the January 6 attack provided exclusively to his producers by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, who now faces ridicule by the left and some of his own Republicans for the overt effort to throw a bone to the far-right and allow Carlson first dibs at the footage.

On the episode, Carlson insisted that rioters – some of whom bludgeoned officers with flagpoles, stole riot shields and blasted members of law enforcement of chemical spray – were actually being “meek” when they climbed through shattered windows and were merely showing reverence of the insititution when they shouted racist slurs at Black officers attempting to keep them from hunting down and carrying out plans to “hang Mike Pence” and other lawmakers — plans they chanted openly as the riot unfolded.

His words were roundly rejected even by Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell, but also Thomas Manger, chief of US Capitol Police.

According to Mr Manger, Carlson’s episode “fails to provide context” for clips including ones that show rioters interacting with officers who attempted to convince them to leave verbally, knowing law enforcement was outnumbered.

Carlson continues to insist that the 2020 electoin was stolen, even as his network’s boss has admitted that this is a lie and that Carlson and others know this. He was recently revealed in text messages to have privately derided Trump campaign officials as liars even as the spread the same conspiracies that he himself embraced publicly.