During a new appearance on MSNBC, former federal prosecutor and current legal analyst Glenn Kirschner pushed for a federal investigation of Fox News over the network’s role in inciting the violence of January 6.
Currently, Fox and its parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation, are facing an imminent trial over a defamation lawsuit from the election technology company Dominion Voting Systems over the part Fox had in spreading lies about the company’s supposed role in imaginary election fraud. Both Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, allies to the now former president who’ve helped with PR for his nonsense, were on air at Fox, pushing claims of a stolen election and fraudulent votes, despite messages behind the scenes now available that show figures like Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Murdoch himself expressing doubts or an outright rejection of the claims. Carlson, though, also complained about push-back to election fraud claims, drawing a connection to Fox’s share price. And then, the Capitol was attacked in an incident that if it had gone even a little differently could have seen Senators or Representatives, not to mention the vice president, physically attacked and killed.
“It’s like they were packing the case with gunpowder, using these lies as a vehicle to keep the viewership engaged,” Kirschner said on MSNBC. “They were just waiting for Donald Trump to light that gunpowder — which he did on January 6, and it erupted into violence. I think we need to challenge the federal government. This defamation suit is important, but what’s even more important is the federal government needs to step up and address these intentional and reckless lies that I would argue are reasonably likely, if not intended, to incite imminent violence. This issue has got to be grabbed onto and shaken and addressed.”
“Should Jack Smith begin to dig in to the implications of Fox News riling up the Trump base such that Trump now has a more willing, more ready group of insurrectionists, right?” he added this weekend, recapping a query from host Katie Phang. “I think it’s an abdication of the federal government’s responsibility if they don’t find the right vehicle, the right organization, to dig into these problems to try to protect the American people from these faux news organizations… [Fox’s lies] did incite imminent violence on January 6. Does Jack Smith have adequate predication, fancy term for enough evidence, to begin investigating the impact that the Fox News lies had on what happened on January 6? I sure hope he concludes he does.” Check out Kirschner’s comments below:
