Fox News anchors fail to challenge Rep. Jim Banks’ assertion that he has “yet to meet a Republican in Congress” who has minimized January 6

Republican members of Congress have called the insurrectionists “peaceful patriots,” and the riot a “normal tourist visit”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the July 27, 2021, edition of Fox News’ America Reports with John Roberts & Sandra Smith

JOHN ROBERTS (CO-ANCHOR): Congressman, let me ask you a couple of questions here if I could. First of all, something that Bret Baier said, that if you watch that video that we saw today — and some of it we had seen in the past, or at least very similar video, but there was some new video there as well — that if you try to weave the narrative that that was a nonviolent protest, you’re on the wrong side of history. And then the second question is, do you believe that this commission will get to the bottom of what happened, or is it just laying the foundation for a preconceived conclusion?

REP. JIM BANKS (R-IN): Yeah, let me take your second question, the most important question, first. I mean, clearly this is politically designed by the Democrats to stop Republicans from winning back the majority in the midterm election.

…

ROBERTS: And what about the first question, though? About the — some people said that it was a nonviolent protest.

BANKS: I’m not aware of — I don't know any Republicans, certainly any of the Republicans like myself who were going to serve on this committee that have ever minimized what happened on January 6. That's a false narrative. I’m not — I have yet to meet a Republican in Congress who has minimized and doesn’t believe that what happened on January 6 was serious.

Co-anchors John Roberts and Sandra Smith did not ask Rep. Banks about the number of congressional Republicans who have compared the January 6 attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump to a “normal tourist visit,” and have denounced the prosecutions of the riot participants whom they characterize as “peaceful patriots” whose “only crime was supporting Donald Trump.”

Perhaps the most prominent person to deny that the attacks on January 6 were violent is Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Banks' communications director is Carlson's son.