During his Fox News show on Monday night, Tucker Carlson presented surveillance video from the U.S. Capitol on the day of the January 6 riot, which he obtained from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R–Calif.), as evidence that the conventional depiction of that event is misleading. He noted that Democratic politicians, journalists, and commentators have routinely described the breach of the Capitol as "a deadly insurrection." His assessment: "Everything about that phrase is a lie. Very little about January 6th was organized or violent. Surveillance video from inside the Capitol shows mostly peaceful chaos."
According to a New York Times article about the controversy over that show, it is Carlson who is lying. The headline calls his claims about the riot "false," while the subhead describes him as "falsely portraying the attack on the Capitol as a largely peaceful event." The lead repeats that charge, saying Carlson "falsely portrayed the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as a largely peaceful gathering." But if we take "peaceful" to mean "nonviolent," the evidence, including the arrest numbers cited by the Times as well as the video record, supports that characterization.
