In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks came the so-called “9/11 Truth” movement, whose adherents claimed that the attacks had actually been an “inside job” perpetrated by the U.S. government. This crackpottery had few prominent advocates, but enough Americans bought into it to lift up people like Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist radio host who has claimed that the feds used “controlled demolitions” to bring down the World Trade Center and whose website has described him as one of the “founding fathers” of the movement.
Nearly two decades later, the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by violent Trumpists has generated new cries of an inside job. But this time, the conspiracy theory is backed by the most-watched host on cable news, Fox News prime-time star Tucker Carlson.
On Tuesday, Carlson alleged that “some of the key people who participated on January 6 have not been charged,” citing charging documents in which “the government calls those people unindicted co-conspirators.” He then exclaimed: “What does that mean? Well, it means that in potentially every single case they were FBI operatives. Really? In the Capitol on January 6?”
Carlson was citing a report from Revolver News’ Darren Beattie, who he then brought on. Beattie is not a credible source -- he left his job at the Trump White House after CNN asked about him speaking at a 2016 conference alongside well-known white nationalists. But even Beattie suggested that Carlson was taking his work too far -- when Carlson said that his piece explains that “the FBI was organizing the riots of January 6,” he replied that it only “suggests that possibility.”
In fact, this theory, which rests on the premise that “unindicted co-conspirators” are by definition “FBI operatives,” collapses with the slightest scrutiny, and suggests that Carlson either a) lacks a basic understanding of federal investigations or b) thinks his viewers are rubes.
“Legal experts say the government literally cannot name an undercover agent as an unindicted co-conspirator,” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake reported in a filleting of Carlson’s segment, pointing out that better explanations for the unindicted conspirators include that they might be cooperating with the federal government. Blake noted that while it’s not literally impossible that the government is violating that stricture, there’s also no evidence to believe that is the case.
But Carlson doubled down on Wednesday, stating as fact, “The events of January 6 ... were at least in part organized and carried out in secret by people connected to federal law enforcement.” Again, there’s no evidence at all for this, but Carlson nonetheless said, “It's hard to think of a bigger potential scandal than this one.” Taking the conspiracy theory a step further, he went on to allege that the government won’t release Capitol surveillance footage of the riot because “people they know are on the tape.”
Carlson is one of the most powerful figures in the modern right. He is the face of Fox and an increasingly influential force in Republican politics. When he takes a stand, others follow. His January 6 conspiracy theory quickly drew support from far-right influencers and media figures and even GOP members of Congress.
The Fox host's “false flag” theory fits into a broad and largely successful effort by elements of the GOP and right-wing press to confuse the public and shatter the initial, fragile consensus that the events of January 6 had been bad and reflected poorly on then-President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Carlson himself has sought to create an alternate-reality version of the events of the day, denying that it was an “insurrection” that featured the involvement of violent right-wingers including Proud Boys and white supremacists.
In his initial response to the riots, Carlson validated the concerns of the perpetrators, but nonetheless said that they went too far.
“What happened at the Capitol last Wednesday was wrong,” he said on January 14. “We’ve said that very clearly at the time. We’ve said it very clearly every day since. And we’ll continue to say it.”
But he did not continue to say it. As those events passed further into memory, he shifted how he talked about them. Here’s how he started his April 6 broadcast, in a monologue dripping with sarcasm: