Fox News anchor argues that supporters of Trump’s election lies should have been part of January 6 committee
Martha MacCallum: “I mean, isn’t that the way that we do things, where we challenge the supposition of why you’re gathered in this room, to go through this evidence in the first place?”
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From the June 9, 2022, edition of Fox Business Network’s coverage of the January 6 committee hearing
MARTHA MACCALLUM (FOX NEWS ANCHOR): Jessica, when you look back at the Watergate hearings, they had a panel of seven — three Republicans, four Democrats — in the course of that. And we’re not seeing that here, because we see that all of these members were selected by [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi. They were all picked by a Democrat. It’s not like, you know, picking teams in kickball where each side gets to pick somebody until you’ve got the teams.
JESSICA TARLOV (CO-HOST, The Five): Yeah, and there were Republicans that were rejected for being part of this. But they were also Republicans who fundamentally don't accept the thrust of this investigation, people who believe that Donald Trump won the election in 2020, people who participated in the “Stop The Steal” rally, people who still stand by the president’s side.
And I think that the Democrats and Chairman [Bennie] Thompson, in making these selections, by picking [Rep.] Liz Cheney and [Rep.] Adam Kinzinger to be part of this — and we should add, there were more Republicans who also voted to — against certification — for certification, sorry — and for impeachment, that could have been part of this. This isn’t like they are the only two.
But why should Democrats be dignifying Republicans who won’t even accept the basis of the fact that there was an election that this president tried to steal from the American public, and amplify those lies even further? That’s what the supporters that we saw breaking down those doors on January 6 want to hear.
MACCALLUM: But Jessica, how would it have been problematic to make the case, and to have even people who are of the mind that you’re expressing, have them in the room? I mean, isn’t that the way that we do things, where we challenge the supposition of why you’re gathered in this room, to go through this evidence in the first place? What’s wrong with that?
TARLOV: Something that’s so core to what’s going on now during these hearings, and Congresswoman Cheney laid this out, as well, is the importance of how disinformation has polluted these people’s minds. And so many of them have testified, since they’d been pulled in by the DOJ for participating in this, that they were lied to, that they were brainwashed by President Trump and his allies.
And I don't actually see the point of in amplifying further those lies that have caused so much damage, that have put us to a place that we have never seen before, the unprecedented nature of what happened on January 6 and the previous two months where Donald Trump, as Trey [Gowdy] pointed out, knew that he had lost the election because his most trusted advisors, like Bill Barr and his own daughter — I did think that was powerful, seeing Ivanka’s face up there — had told him that he lost the election, and he continued to lie to the American people. So, why continue to amplify that?