CNN’s Stelter: Why Isn’t Fox News Defending Tucker Carlson’s Wild FBI Claims?
Noting on Sunday that Fox News’ news division has not followed up or defended Tucker Carlson’s wild and baseless claims that the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection was an FBI plot, CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter wondered aloud if the network vetted the opinion host’s reporting.
Carlson sparked a firestorm of criticism last week when he referenced an article from a fringe far-right website to promote a new conspiracy theory that the FBI orchestrated the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Despite fact-checkers and legal experts pointing out that Carlson’s argument was completely meritless—mostly due to the fact that he “makes the erroneous assumption that unindicted co-conspirators are government agents”—the Fox News star tripled down on the unfounded theory, calling on other media outlets to “prove us wrong.”