CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A group of Senate Republicans, including North Carolina's Thom Tillis, pushed back on Fox News host Tucker Carlson's description of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, with Tillis calling Carlson's remarks "bulls---."
Carlson, a popular and controversial host on Fox News, compared the Jan. 6 attack to "mostly peaceful chaos" during his Monday show that aired select clips of never-before-seen surveillance footage, NBC News reported. The footage on Carlson's show seemed to downplay the violent insurrection that injured 140 police officers following the 2020 election.
"I think it's bulls---," Tillis said Tuesday.
"I was here. I was down there and I saw maybe a few tourists, a few people who got caught up in things," Tillis added. "But when you see police barricades breached when you see police officers assaulted, all of that ... if you were just a tourist you probably should've probably lined up at the visitors' center and came in on an orderly basis."
Carlson said that while there are a few bad apples, most of the Jan. 6 rioters were peaceful, calling them "sightseers," not "insurrectionists."
Tillis went on to call Carlson's description of the riot "inexcusable," comparing it to the people who downplayed the violent protests in Wisconsin after the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
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