[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 8, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S677-S678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                FOX News

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, last night, additional new evidence came 
to light that Rupert Murdoch and FOX News knew Donald Trump lied about 
the 2020 election. Yet they allowed the Big Lie to air on their network 
all the same. More and more evidence keeps pouring out that these are 
the undisputed facts.
  I have never heard of a news organization push a story with such 
intensity while acknowledging, very candidly behind the scenes, that 
what they were peddling was total balderdash.
  In one email just revealed last night, Mr. Murdoch admitted sometime 
after January 6 that ``maybe Sean and Laura went too far,'' referring 
to prime-time hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.
  In another instance published in last night's Washington Post, Mr. 
Murdoch speculated that after losing the election, Donald Trump was 
going ``increasingly mad.'' Murdoch said Donald Trump is going 
``increasingly mad,'' and then Murdoch worried that President Trump's 
allies' plans to overturn swing State results ``sound ridiculous'' and 
could lead to ``riots like never before.''
  Murdoch, the head of FOX News, allowing these lies to continue, 
worries that they could lead to ``riots like never before.''
  But it is not enough for Mr. Murdoch to express doubt and regret in 
private, which is continuing to be documented, because today, after he 
makes these expressions of doubt and regret and is very pejorative of 
his own newscast and newscasters, the Big Lie still has a home at FOX 
News, Mr. Murdoch's station--news network. Just look at Carlson's 
segments this week.
  Members on the Republican side of the aisle should drop the pretenses 
and say it plainly: FOX News lied to the country about the 2020 
elections and, in doing so, eroded the public's trust in American 
democracy. For their own sake and for the sake of the country, Mr. 
Murdoch and FOX News leadership should put a halt to the spread of the 
Big Lie on their network.
  This is about preserving trust in our 200-year-old system of 
government. When enough people believe elections are not on the level, 
that is the death knell of democracy.
  Of course, the fault also lies with the person who shared Capitol 
security footage with FOX News to begin with--

[[Page S678]]

Speaker McCarthy. Speaker McCarthy has held a gavel for less than 3 
months and already he has done more than any party leader in Congress 
to enable the spread of Donald Trump's Big Lie.
  While the Speaker can't undo his decision to share security footage 
with FOX News, he should denounce them for the way that FOX News 
manipulated that footage to rewrite the history of January 6. The 
Speaker should not delay because his decision to share sensitive 
security footage with FOX News has made our democracy weaker because 
millions--millions--of people, sadly, believe Mr. Carlson when he says 
January 6 was a legitimate protest. And the more people who believe 
that January 6 was legitimate, the more they will accept the lie that 
Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
  Bewilderingly--bewilderingly--Speaker McCarthy said yesterday that he 
didn't regret his decision to share Capitol security footage. He said 
he didn't see what FOX News aired; that people can make their own 
conclusions. Then, for some reason, he started pointing the finger at 
CNN.
  For Speaker McCarthy not even to watch the spoiled fruits of his 
labor, it shows a callousness and unconcern far beneath the dignity of 
his office.
  Speaker McCarthy, rescue your office from that indignity by finally 
speaking out. If you are dealing with a burglar, Speaker McCarthy, the 
last thing you should do is give them your house keys. If you are 
dealing with an arsonist, Speaker McCarthy, the last thing you should 
do is give them a box of matches. And if you are dealing with FOX News, 
Speaker McCarthy, the last thing you should do is give them security 
footage of January 6 because, as we have seen, their hosts will lie to 
the American people--baldly lie about what happened.
  So, once again, Speaker McCarthy can't undo his decision to share 
security footage with FOX, but he should at least denounce FOX News for 
the way they have manipulated the footage to rewrite the history of 
January 6.