Tucker Carlson news – Fox host defends QAnon Shaman and calls Zelensky a ‘despot’

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, called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky a “despot” over his request for US F-16 fighter jets 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.

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”.

Donald Trump’s newly-censured lawyer Jenna Ellis has been called out for mocking Mitch McConnell with a tumbling tortoise video.

The Senate minority leader was hospitalised on Wednesday night after falling and injuring himself at a private dinner at a DC hotel.

Graeme Massie reports.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer blasted the conservative right for its continued effort to whitewash the deadly attack on the US Capitol on Tuesday during a speech from the floor of the upper chamber.

Here’s a reminder of what he had to say.

Here’s John Bowden and Andrew Feinberg on the Fox host and the former president’s worrying revisionist attitude towards the Capitol riot’s poster boy.

Reporters at Fox News are frustrated by recent court documents highlighting the hypocrisy and bias of their colleagues in the network’s prime-time opinion programming, according to a new report.

Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox News has provided an unfiltered look into the private communications and decisions of the conservative news network’s top names in the wake of the 2020 election.

Those exchanges have left current journalists at the network reportedly feeling embarrassed over their association.

Several current reporters at Fox spoke to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity to share their frustrations.

Graig Graziosi reports.

House speaker Kevin McCarthy has bravely insisted he did not see Tucker Carlson’s Fox show from Monday night during which he broadcasted cherry-picked video footage of the Capitol riot.

The Republican gave the footage to the right-wing cable news host, who has frequently downplayed the events of 6 January 2021.

Eric Garcia has more.

Donald Trump Jr has hit out at Sen Mitch McConnell after the Senate Minority Leader criticised Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s presentation of the Capitol riot on his television programme this week.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave Carlson the exclusive opportunity to report on more than 40,000 hours of previously unreleased footage from the Capitol from January 6, 2021, which Carlson turned into a report that rankled members of both parties.

Among the critics was Mr McConnell, who voiced his displeasure with the presentation at the Capitol earlier this week.

Abe Asher reports.

As Fox Corp defends itself against a high-profile defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, the network is questioning how the once-obscure company could claim it deserves to be awarded more than $1.6bn in damages.

Dominion was thrust into the national spotlight in the wake of the 2020 election, when Fox hosts aired debunked conspiracy theories claiming that Dominion’s voting machines were used to rig the outcome against Republican former President Donald Trump and in favor of the winner, Democrat Joe Biden.

The voting technology company made the eye-popping damages claim as part of its 2021 lawsuit, which alleges Fox destroyed its reputation by airing falsehoods. Fox says its statements were inherently newsworthy and protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

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The White House has condemned Fox News’ recent coverage of the January 6, 2021 insurrection, saying that host Tucker Carlson “is not credible”.

“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 from Washington, DC.

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 has the story.