Fox News host Tucker Carlson cast doubt Wednesday night on the legitimacy of upcoming testimony from a Black Capitol Police officer who said rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 used racial slurs as they attacked the building.
Carlson said Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn “will pretend to speak for the country’s law enforcement community. But it turns out Dunn has very little in common with your average cop.”
He then called Dunn an “angry left-wing political activist” whose social media feeds are filled “not surprisingly, with praise for Nancy Pelosi,” the Speaker of the House.
The host flashed a photo Dunn and Pelosi (D-Calif.) had taken together at the Capitol on the screen and highlighted a tweet from the police officer in July 2019 that read, “Racism is so American that when you protest it, people think you are protesting America!”
“Harry Dunn, ladies and gentlemen,” Carlson said sarcastically. “Just another fact-based witness to the insurrection.”
Dunn will be one of several witness from law enforcement who will testify before a special House panel on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol next week.
The officer, in media interviews since the insurrection, has said he viewed the attack carried out by supporters of former President Trump as motivated in part by racism.
“They’re saying, ‘Trump is our rightful president. Nobody voted for Joe Biden.’ I needed to catch my breath. So I said, ‘I voted for Joe Biden. What? My vote doesn’t matter?’ “Dunn told The New York Times in February. “A woman responded, ‘This [slur] voted for Joe Biden!’ Everybody that was there started joining in. ‘Hey, [slur]!’ It was over 20 people who said it.”
Dunn’s attorneys, Mark Zaid and David Laufman, took a shot at Carlson after he called Dunn’s impartiality into question.
“Our client has served 13 years in law enforcement and on January 6, 2021, fought against an insurrectionist violent crowd — no doubt many of them Carlson’s supporters — to protect the lives of our elected officials, including Vice President Pence,” the attorneys wrote, adding Carlson has never served “a day in uniform, whether military or law enforcement.”
Plans for a bipartisan commission on Jan. 6 collapsed on Tuesday when Pelosi rejected two of the GOP members tapped by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) serve on the panel. McCarthy responded by pulling the rest of his members from serving on the panel, which is slated to hold its first hearing next week.