Tucker Carlson made a splash Monday night by dedicating an entire episode of his Fox News show to dissecting the Jan. 6 security tapes he was given access to by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He spent the program delivering a bizarre whitewashing of the riot at the US Capitol, portraying the Trump supporters who stormed the building as “sightseers” and accusing those who say otherwise of lying.

The segment exploded on the right-wing corners of social media, where it was celebrated as a “bombshell” of historic proportions. Former President Donald Trump hailed Carlson, touted his supposed exoneration, and demanded the release of all January 6 rioters currently in jail. The world’s richest Internet troll, Elon Musk, even got duped by the remarkably moronic segment, expressing shock at its supposed revelations.

Oddly enough, however, the bombshell has been entirely ignored by Fox News.

Since Carlson delivered the supposedly huge news during his Monday night program, not a single Fox News show has covered the revelations. According to a search of transcripts, his name has not been mentioned once on another show since he tossed to Hannity.

This is extraordinary since Fox’s news programs often amplify the network’s opinion programming by covering the commentary of hosts like Carlson as an end-around the opinion-news divide that marks cable news programming these days.

Fellow prime time hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham? They didn’t touch the story. The top-rated cable news morning show Fox & Friends, which caters to a Trump-friendly audience? They entirely ignored it. As of writing, the daytime news programs have also opted not to touch the story, including the opinion-based panel show Outnumbered. 

In the interest of candor, Carlson’s coverage is covered by Fox News digital, though not with a blaring headline that one might expect given the level of anticipation that proceeded the show.

The fact that Carlson’s highly-anticipated commentary on the Jan. 6 tapes is now being quietly buried by the network that allowed him to spew that commentary speaks volumes about his privileged role in the Fox News hierarchy. It appears that he can say or do whatever he pleases with impunity. Even if the news division of Fox knows he is wrong on the facts.

The day is young, and we still have seven more hours to get to Tuesday’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, in which he’s promised to air more footage his producers have screened, even though Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pleaded for Fox News executives to keep it from the air.

While it’s shameful that Carlson was allowed to air such dangerous drivel on air, at least the rest of Fox News understands what this is, opting to ignore it.

The post Bombshell? Fox News is Completely Ignoring Tucker Carlson’s Jan. 6 Tapes first appeared on Mediaite.

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