On Wednesday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson went after a black police officer who was attacked by Trump rioters as he tried to defend the US Capitol and protect legislators on January 6.
Carlson is attempting to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn’s testimony, who said rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 used racial slurs as they attacked the building.
The right-wing host said Dunn “will pretend to speak for the country’s law enforcement community. But it turns out Dunn has very little in common with your average cop.”
He then called Dunn an “angry left-wing political activist” whose social media feeds are filled “not surprisingly, with praise for Nancy Pelosi,” the Speaker of the House.
The host flashed a photo Dunn and Pelosi had taken together at the Capitol on the screen and highlighted a tweet from the police officer in July 2019 that read “racism is so American that when you protest it, people think you are protesting America!”
“Harry Dunn, ladies and gentlemen,” Carlson said sarcastically. “Just another fact-based witness to the insurrection.”
Dunn will be one of several witness from law enforcement who will testify before a special House panel on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol next week.
Dunn’s attorneys, Mark Zaid and David Laufman, took a shot at Carlson after he called Dunn’s impartiality into question.
“Our client has served 13 years in law enforcement and on January 6, 2021, fought against an insurrectionist violent crowd — no doubt many of them Carlson’s supporters — to protect the lives of our elected officials, including Vice President Pence,” the attorneys wrote, adding Carlson has never served “a day in uniform, whether military or law enforcement.”
Plans for a bipartisan commission on Jan. 6 collapsed on Tuesday when Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected two of the GOP members tapped by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) serve on the panel. McCarthy responded by pulling the rest of his members from serving on the panel, which is slated to hold its first hearing next week.
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) July 22, 2021
