Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night heaped praise on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, claiming the Sandy Hook hoaxer is a “better journalist” than reporters at NBC and CBS while defending Jones’ participation in the Jan. 6 riot.
Carlson, as he has done countless times in recent months, railed against the Jan. 6 House select committee during his Wednesday primetime broadcast. Describing it as nothing more than “an attempt to punish critics of the Democratic Party,” the Fox News star took issue with the committee’s recent subpoenas of self-described “dirty trickster” Roger Stone and Jones, among others.
After claiming Stone—a longtime friend of his—had “nothing to do” with the Capitol riot while bemoaning the former Trump adviser’s subpoena, Carlson turned his attention to Jones. And according to the Fox host, the man who once screamed the government is “putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay” is a talented and serious newsman.
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“Now the committee is deciding to shut down one of the most popular journalists on the right, Alex Jones. Yes, journalist,” Carlson declared, emphasizing his belief in Jones’ journalistic credibility.
“Jones is mocked for his flamboyance, but the truth is he’s been a far better guide to reality in recent years, in other words, a far better journalist than, say, NBC News national correspondent Ken Dilanian or Margaret Brennan of CBS,” he added.
Carlson also claimed that Jones “would ask real questions like a journalist is supposed to” if he were given a chance to interview chief White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, a frequent target of criticism by Carlson and other right-wing media figures.
As for why Jan. 6 investigators want to question Jones, who helped organize the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the violent insurrection, Carlson insisted it was merely because “Jones makes fun of Joe Biden so the Jan. 6 committee is threatening him with prison.”
“The irony” of the situation, the Tucker Carlson Tonight host said, is that Jones “isn’t simply innocent of inciting crime on Jan. 6” but “actively worked to prevent crimes” that day.
“We’re not running interference for Alex Jones and we’re not guessing it, we happen to know it for a fact,” Carlson asserted. “Because we looked into it in some detail for Patriot Purge, our three-part documentary series on Fox Nation.”
That’s right. The so-called proof of the InfoWars founder’s Jan. 6 innocence is Carlson’s deranged docu-series, which paints a revisionist portrait of the events surrounding the riot and even suggests it was a “false flag” orchestrated by the FBI. The inflammatory series has sparked internal turmoil at Fox News, prompting two longtime contributors to quit and leading “hard news” anchors to complain to management over “concerns” about its content.
The Fox Nation special also features an extremely sympathetic portrayal of prominent “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander, who went into hiding after the riot. On Wednesday evening, Carlson aired a portion of Patriot Purge that suggested Alexander and Jones were trying to calm down the MAGA mob as it stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory.
Wednesday was hardly the first time that Carlson has rallied to the defense of Jones, who was recently found liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by Sandy Hook families for repeatedly claiming the 2012 mass shooting was a “false flag” involving “crisis actors.” According to research by liberal media watchdog Media Matters, the Fox News star—who’s appeared on Jones’ program in the past—has praised Jones and InfoWars at least 29 times on his show in the past three years.
