Schumer Calls Fox News Cowardly
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) says Fox News' decision to not provide live coverage of the January 6 Committee hearings “is a cowardly betrayal of the American people. Every other news channel is covering the hearings. The unity of the nation requires that all news channels present the same information. If Fox won't do that voluntarily we need to explore methods for compelling them to do their patriotic duty.”
In addition to his irritation at the refusal to provide live coverage of the hearing, Schumer objected to Fox commentator Tucker Carlson's characterization of the continued holding of January 6 rioters without trial as unconstitutional. “Who is Carlson to say what is and isn't constitutional?” Schumer wanted to know. “Only the government is authorized to determine what is constitutional and what is not. Carlson's intrusion into the matter strikes me as treasonous sedition. Maybe he'd like to join the traitors he is trying to defend?”
Carlson called Schumer's threats “the very tyranny that our Constitution was designed to avert. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press. It is for Fox to decide what news it will cover. We are not legally required to broadcast the Democrats' show trial. The Sixth Amendment guarantees every accused person a speedy trial by an impartial jury. Some of the people being held in the DC jail have been there for more than a year. They are being denied a speedy trial. The January 6 Committee is not impartial. It is a partisan undertaking. The Republicans were denied an opportunity to appoint their rightful share of the members on the Committee. The only Republicans that Speaker Pelosi would allow on the panel were the two—Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois)—who already agreed that Trump is guilty. Senator Schumer's plea for unity on behalf of this biased process is an evil that all honorable people ought to resist.”
Fox's decision not to air the hearing live was vindicated by the poor viewership enjoyed by the gaggle of cable channels that did. Even President Biden admitted “I didn't watch the hearing. Why would I watch a hearing? Shouldn't I listen for a hearing? You're talking nonsense.” Aides report that “actually, he tried to watch the Sponge Bob Square Pants movie airing at 9 p.m., but fell asleep about ten-minutes in.”
