[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 40 (Thursday, March 2, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S616-S617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                FOX News

  Mr. President, finally, on FOX News--there is a lot to talk about 
this morning. Earlier this week, we learned that Rupert Murdoch 
admitted during a deposition that he and FOX News executives 
knowingly--knowingly--broadcasted the Big Lie on their network despite 
many of them knowing it was completely bogus. When asked if he could 
have stepped in to stop it, Mr. Murdoch claimed that he could have but 
chose not to, and he expressed regret for not doing so.
  With all due respect, expressing regret is not enough. I repeat, 
expressing regret on an issue so vital to the future of our democracy 
is just not enough. What Rupert Murdoch and FOX News executives and 
hosts have done is dangerous. When people doubt that elections are on 
the level, that is the beginning of the end of this wonderful 
democracy. Elections are our wellspring. When people don't believe they 
are legit, democracy starts flying out the window and some other form 
of autocracy comes in. We are not there yet, but FOX News and its 
commentators who have lied have helped sow some evil seeds in our body 
politic.
  The wellspring of democracy is elections, and it is why this 
wonderful, great experiment has endured for so long. When conspiracy 
theories like the Big Lie are allowed to grow, when they are given a 
prime time spot on cable news--well, we all saw what could happen on 
January 6.
  That is why I wrote a letter with Leader Jeffries to Mr. Murdoch this 
week, demanding that he should do what he should have done a long time 
ago: First, stop spreading lies about the election; second, stop sowing 
division; third, stop weakening faith in our democracy; and fourth, 
stop the commentators who continue to repeat the Big Lie even after so 
many at FOX, including Mr. Murdoch, admitted it was a lie, admitted 
they regretted it happened. Stop them from doing it.
  Again, expressing regret is simply not enough.
  In the light of mounting evidence that FOX News knowingly misled 
their

[[Page S617]]

viewers, it is alarming, it is disturbing, and it is highly 
inappropriate for Speaker McCarthy to share highly sensitive security 
camera footage of the January 6 attack with Tucker Carlson, one of the 
biggest peddlers of the Big Lie, one of the people who have done more 
to destroy faith in this democracy than just about anyone else.
  Releasing this footage publicly reveals the location of security 
cameras across the Capitol grounds, making it harder and more dangerous 
for our brave Capitol Police officers who defended the Capitol that day 
to do their job. Giving someone as disingenuous, fundamentally 
dishonest as Tucker Carlson when it comes to what happened in the 
election--giving him exclusive access to this type of sensitive 
information is a grave mistake--a grave mistake--by Speaker McCarthy 
and feeds into the propaganda he has already put on FOX News's air.
  I yield the floor.