Tony Dokoupil, newly installed as the face of CBS’s flagship broadcast, is taking heavy heat for what critics say was a shameless act of “both sides-ing” one of the darkest days in modern American history: the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The assault left 140 police officers injured and five people dead. That part is not debatable. The spin that followed apparently is.
During a report marking the fifth anniversary of the insurrection, Dokoupil delivered a tight, 17-second summary that lit up social media after it was posted on X.
“President Trump today accused Dems of failing to prevent the attack on the Capitol, while House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries accused the president of ‘whitewashing it,’” Dokoupil said.
That framing didn’t land as neutral. It landed as offensive.
The report came as the White House faced criticism for pushing out a website that attempts to rewrite the history of Jan. 6 — shifting blame toward Democrats and the Capitol Police while conveniently omitting the fact that Donald Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell” to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
For many journalists and analysts, equating Trump’s accusation with Jeffries’ response wasn’t balance. It was distortion.
“It’s an outrage. Real journalists in and out of CBS must condemn this,” said political analyst Larry Sabato.
Keith Olbermann went further, demanding immediate consequences.
“Simply: CBS News has got to take Tony Dokoupil off the air, now,” Olbermann wrote.
The backlash also dragged CBS leadership into the spotlight. Dokoupil was selected for the anchor role by CBS News’ new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who has led outlets peddling right-wing misinformation — a fact critics argue helps explain the editorial direction now showing up on air.
The contrast with other networks was stark.
On CNN, Anderson Cooper didn’t hedge or sanitize what happened. He described how a “mob of Trump supporters lied to by the president and allies stormed the Capitol building.”
“Instead of the solemn remembrance of a day that should live in infamy for all Americans today, the president continued to dodge responsibility and peddle falsehoods,” Cooper said.
No false equivalence. No hedging. Just facts.
CBS, meanwhile, is facing a credibility test it didn’t need. January 6 isn’t a partisan Rorschach test. It’s a documented attack on American democracy. Treating it like a political dispute between two squabbling parties isn’t journalism — it’s abdication.
Watch the clip below:
.@LarrySabato I had to see and hear with my own eyes and ears
Adios CBS pic.twitter.com/JB3EX37LFj— Jeff Storobinsky (@JeffStorobinsky) January 7, 2026
