Fox News’ Tucker Carlson assails Black Capitol Police officer as ‘angry’
Carlson's dog-whistle language in his talk about Harry Dunn didn't go unnoticed by viewers and others.
Tucker Carlson went on a rant about a Capitol Police officer who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection. On his show Wednesday night, Carlson assailed the character of Harry Dunn, a Black law enforcement veteran who is expected to testify during the select committee hearings to investigate that fateful day.
“On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi will call a Capitol Police officer called Harry Dunn. Dunn will pretend to speak for the country’s law enforcement community,” Carlson told Tucker Carlson Tonight viewers.
“But, it turns out Dunn has very little in common with your average cop. Dunn is an angry left-wing political activist whose social media feeds are full of praise, not coincidentally for Nancy Pelosi.”
The Fox News host referred to a tweet from Dunn’s account, in which he opined: “Racism is so American, that when you protest it, people think you are protesting America!” The tweet was posted in July 2019 on the day after former President Donald Trump verbally attacked Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar at a North Carolina rally, where he whipped his supporters into chants of “Send her back!”
Carlson’s dog-whistle language did not go unnoticed by viewers and others.
“Forever grateful to officers like Harry Dunn. He put his body between lawmakers and an armed mob. You know who else Officer Dunn protected…Tucker Carlson’s son, a House staffer. RT if you stand with Harry and against white supremacy,” wrote California Rep. Eric Swalwell on Twitter.
“Tucker Carlson has the nerve to attack Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who put his life on the line on January 6th for all of the members of Congress + their staff, including Tucker Carlson’s own son who is a House staffer,” another Twitter user wrote. “Tucker is Ungrateful, Heinous + UnAmerican.”
A reminder of what Harry Dunn told @ABC News happened to him on Jan. 6th: https://t.co/wiIESnf1LE pic.twitter.com/BoZnRaEf6g
— Victor Ordoñez (@TheOrdonezTimes) July 22, 2021
Dunn has remained vocal about what he experienced as a police officer that deadly day, saying that he was called racial slurs when attacked by Trump supporters. In an interview earlier this year with ABC News correspondent Pierre Thomas, he detailed how he found himself gasping for air from the bear mace and pepper spray with which the insurrectionists were armed.
“I got called a [N-word] a couple dozen times today protecting this building,” Dunn said he told a fellow officer in disbelief. “Is this America? They beat police officers with Blue Lives Matter flags. They fought us, they had Confederate flags in the U.S. Capitol.”
1/BREAKING NEWS – STATEMENT BY ATTORNEYS FOR @CapitolPolice OFFICER #HARRYDUNN
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) July 22, 2021
Responding to @TuckerCarlson & @FoxNews.#January6thInsurrection #January6thSelectCommittee pic.twitter.com/OOWsb6Md0C
After Carlson’s assertions, Dunn’s attorneys shared a statement late Wednesday night, writing, in part: “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.”
“Officer Dunn, who would lay down his life to protect a Member of Congress, regardless of being a Republican or Democrat,” it read, “will testify next Tuesday before the House Select Committee investigating the events of the insurrection.”
Dunn made the rounds last month meeting privately with lawmakers on Capitol Hill alongside Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone — who was beaten unconscious and tased by the insurrectionist mob on Jan. 6 — and Gladys Sicknick, the mother of late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.
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